San Diego Padres left fielder Jose Pirela was named as one of the finalists for the Hank Aaron Award and fans do have a say on who wins.
The award recognizes two Major League Baseball players who had the most outstanding offensive performance in each league. Voting is underway through Friday to determine the winners of the 2017 Hank Aaron Awards.
The winners will be announced at during 113th World Series at the end of the month.
Voters will have a hard time picking the winners this year. There were 6,105 home runs hit this season than any other, so voters might consider other elements such as on-base percentage, speed and clutch hits in making their decisions.
This season, Pirela has 10 homers, 40 RBIs and four stolen bases. His on-base percentage is .347 and his slugging average is .460.
This year’s nominees feature 19 players who are under the age of 30 — eight are aged 25 or younger. Fifteen of the finalists were named to All-Stars this year.
Here are the nominees for the American League: Mike Trout of the Angels, Jose Altuve of the Astros, Khris Davis of the Athletics, Josh Donaldson of the Blue Jays, Jose Ramirez of the Indians, Nelson Cruz of the Mariners, Jonathan Schoop of the Orioles, Elvis Andrus of the Rangers, Logan Morrison of the Rays, Mookie Betts of the Red Sox, Eric Hosmer of the Royals, Nicholas Castellanos of the Tigers, Brian Dozier of the Twins, Jose Abreu of the White Sox and Aaron Judge of the Yankees.
The National League finalists are: Freddie Freeman of the Braves, Travis Shaw of the Brewers, Tommy Pham of the Cardinals, Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs, Paul Goldschmidt of the D-backs, Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers, Buster Posey of the Giants, Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins, Michael Conforto of the Mets, Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals, Jose Pirela of the Padres, Odubel Herrera of the Phillies, Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates, Joey Votto of the Reds and Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies.
The Hank Aaron Award was introduced in 1999 — the 25th anniversary of Aaron breaking Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record. Aaron himself has shown up to for the each year for the award, adding more weight to the occasion.
Fan voting is available at MLB.com and Padres.com. The voting closes Friday.