Blue Jays Encarnacion Gets 2nd Straight Hank Aaron Award Nomination

Aug 18, 2013; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Edwin Encarnacion (10) hits a solo home run during the seventh inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

On Monday afternoon, Major League Baseball announced the 2013 nominees for the Hank Aaron Award, which is presented yearly to recognize each league’s top hitters. Each team gets awarded one nominee, and it should come as no surprise that for the second straight season, Edwin Encarnacion will represent the Toronto Blue Jays on the ballot.

Other nominees include:

American League
Chris Davis – Baltimore Orioles
David Ortiz – Boston Red Sox
Alexei Ramirez – Chicago White Sox
Jason Kipnis – Cleveland Indians
Jason Castro – Houston Astros
Eric Hosmer – Kansas City Royals
Mike Trout – Los Angeles Angels
Joe Mauer – Minnesota Twins
Robinson Cano – New York Yankees
Josh Donaldson – Oakland Athleticss
Kendrys Morales – Seattle Mariners
Evan Longoria – Tampa Bay Rays
Adrian Beltre – Texas Rangers

National League
Paul Goldschmidt – Arizona Diamondbacks
Freddie Freeman – Atlanta Braves
Nate Schierholtz – Chicago Cubs
Jay Bruce – Cincinnati Reds
Michael Cuddyer – Colorado Rockies
Hanley Ramirez – Los Angeles Dodgers
Giancarlo Stanton – Miami Marlins
Carlos Gomez – Milwaukee Brewers
David Wright – New York Mets
Domonic Brown – Philadelphia Phillies
Andrew McCutchen – Pittsburgh Pirates
Matt Carpenter – St. Louis Cardinals
Will Venable – San Diego Padres
Hunter Pence – San Francisco Giants
Jayson Werth – Washington Nationals.

Toronto’s Edwin Encarnacion is coming off a second straight stellar season. In 2013, the Blue Jays first baseman/designated hitter put together a campaign that saw him hit .272 with a team-high 36 home runs and 104 RBI. His home run total ranked third in all of baseball, his RBI total 9th, and his .904 OPS was 11th in the game. His .262 ISO put him fourth behind Davis, Cabrera, and Brandon Moss of Oakland.

Unfortunately for Encarnacion, just like last season his numbers will likely not be enough to get fans to swing their votes his way. Last season, he ran into the unstoppable force of Miguel Cabrera and his Triple Crown campaign. This year, Chris Davis has the fans wowed on the back of 53 home runs and 138 RBI.

Still, it is a tremendous honor to be featured among this group of sluggers and Edwin will get his fair share of votes.

The Hank Aaron Award has been presented yearly since 1999, when it was created to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Hank Aaron eclipsing Babe Ruth‘s career home run record. Fans can cast their votes at this link through October 10th.