Paul Skenes, Cal Raleigh, Tarik Skubal Headline 2025 MLB Players Choice Award Winners
Ahead of the BBWAA awards announcements next month, Paul Skenes, Cal Raleigh and Tarik Skubal were honored by their fellow players for their outstanding 2025 seasons.
The MLB Players Association announced the Players Choice Award winners on Wednesday, headlined by Raleigh winning both Player of the Year and American League Outstanding Player.
Here are the full results from the MLBPA vote:
Outstanding Player and AL Outstanding Player: Cal Raleigh, C, Seattle Mariners
NL Outstanding Pitcher: Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates
AL Outstanding Pitcher: Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers
NL Outstanding Player: Kyle Schwarber, DH, Philadelphia Phillies
AL Outstanding Rookie: Nick Kurtz, 1B, Athletics
NL Outstanding Rookie: Drake Baldwin, C, Atlanta Braves
AL Comeback Player of the Year: Jacob deGrom, SP, Texas Rangers
NL Comeback Player of the Year: Ronald Acuña, OF, Atlanta Braves
One of the biggest takeaways from the winners list is that Shohei Ohtani is not on it. He lost out on the NL Outstanding Player award to Philadelphia Phillies DH Kyle Schwarber.
Ohtani, who won NL Outstanding Player in 2024, led the senior circuit in slugging percentage (.622) and fWAR (7.5). Schwarber had the edge in homers (56 to 55) and RBI (132 to 102) to help the Phillies win the NL East.
The top prize this year went to Raleigh for his historic 60-homer season, becoming the first Seattle Mariners player to be named Outstanding Player. He joins Alex Rodriguez (twice), Ken Griffey Jr. and Ichiro as the only Mariners to win AL Outstanding Player.
Raleigh is the first player aside from Ohtani or Aaron Judge to win AL Outstanding Player since José Abreu in 2020. This could be a precursor to him being named AL MVP since the two awards have lined up every year since 2017.
Skenes and Skubal are the overwhelming favorites to win the NL and AL Cy Young awards, respectively. Skenes led all starting pitchers with a 1.97 ERA in 187.2 innings over 32 starts for the Pirates this season. His ERA was the lowest for any qualified starting pitcher since Justin Verlander in 2022 (1.75).
The last time the Pirates had a Players Choice Award winner was in 2013 when Andrew McCutchen won NL Outstanding Player and Francisco Liriano won NL Comeback Player of the Year.
Skubal is the first pitcher to win the Outstanding Pitcher award in either league in back-to-back seasons since Jacob deGrom in 2018 and 2019. The Tigers ace received the honor from his fellow players after posting a 2.21 ERA and 241 strikeouts in 195.1 innings.
