Indians: As season draws to a close, Jose Ramirez may be rolling in hardware

The Cleveland Indians may be able to celebrate something after all and that’s Jose Ramirez and his post-season hardware chase.

The Cleveland Indians may soon be able to celebrate something after they got bumped from the playoffs by the New York Yankees unceremoniously. Not only is Jose Ramirez up for the AL MVP and possibly a Silver Slugger as well but he’s in line for another post-season award on top of that. Be clear, it’s “post-season” as in following the season, not “postseason” as in the playoffs. That award is none other than the prestigious Hank Aaron Award, an award that’s awarded each year to the best hitter in the AL and NL respectively.

Each year, one candidate from an MLB club is nominated, and a panel of baseball writers cut the field to seven in each league. Seven for the AL and seven for the NL; totaling 14 players. Then Hank Aaron himself, and a group of Hall of Famers vote on who should win. Those who cast a vote are Roberto Alomar, Johnny Bench, Craig Biggio, Ken Griffey Jr., Eddie Murray, and Robin Yount. Two former Indians? Fans should like those odds. Speaking of fans, the players aren’t the only ones that get to vote, as the fans can do so as well.

Ramirez is one of the final seven for the AL. He’s competing against Jose Abreu, Mike Trout, Nelson Cruz, DJ LeMahieu, Brandon Lowe, and Teoscar Hernandez. The only real competition will be Abreu and Trout, as those are the two leading candidates besides Ramirez to win the AL MVP.

For the NL finalists, you have Freddie Freeman, Corey Seager, Dominic Smith, Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Paul Goldschmidt, and Juan Soto.

The Indians haven’t had many players win this award, with just one, Manny Ramirez doing so in 1999. Ironically enough, that was the same year the award was created. He and Sammy Sosa were the first two recipients of the award.

If you want to cast your vote as to who should win the AL and NL Hank Aaron Award, you can do so by going to the official Hank Aaron Award website.