The Heart and Hustle Award is presented to one player from each team by the MLB Players Alumni Association. The overall winner is named in November.
Central Michigan alumnus Zach McKinstry, an All-Star utility player, is representing the Detroit Tigers as their winner of the Heart and Hustle Award in the 2025 season, as voted on by a committee of former MLB players.
The award is presented annually to one player from each team by the MLB Players Alumni Association.
In mid-November, the overall winner of the Heart and Hustle Award will be revealed on MLB Network, with McKinstry as one of 30 candidates. The Tigers haven't had a league-wide winner since the creation of the award in 2005.
"Definitely super cool," McKinstry said Tuesday, Aug. 5, the day the award was announced. "I'm super honored to get it. I'm thankful for everybody in this locker room that helps me."
The Heart and Hustle Award is presented to one player from each team who exemplifies "a true passion for the game" and best embodies "the values, spirt and tradition of the game."
That sounds like McKinstry.
"It shouldn't surprise anyone by watching him and being around him," manager A.J. Hinch said before Tuesday's game against the Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park. "He finds his way in the mess all the time. I always attribute that to the guy that dives, and the guy that slides, and the guy that does everything well. He does embody that award. I'm glad the recognition he's gotten."
For his heart and hustle, McKinstry credits backyard baseball throughout his childhood in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He cultivated his gritty style of play at an early age, in part thanks to his father Alex, his brother Alex, and his sister Haley.
These days, it seems like his Tigers jersey is always dirty.
"My brother would be playing a game, and my sister and I would be the dirtiest people at the field," McKinstry said. "Growing up, I loved the scabs and the scars. My dad always told me that chicks dig scars."
In 2025, McKinstry became an All-Star for the first time in his sixth MLB season.
The 30-year-old is hitting .269 with nine home runs and a .799 OPS in 101 games, stealing 17 bases in 20 attempts. He has played six positions: third base, right field, shortstop, left field, second base and first base.
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What sets McKinstry apart from other players: He isn't afraid to test defenders by running from first to third and second to home, he loves sliding head-first into bases, and he is willing to play anywhere on the field.
He will do whatever it takes to help his team win.
"It's going out there and trying to compete for your teammates," said McKinstry, a 33rd-round draft pick out of CMU in 2016 who made his MLB debut in September 2020. "I think that's the most important part, just creating runs."
Heart and Hustle history
These are the Tigers' Heart and Hustle Award winners since 2010:
2010: Brandon Inge.
2011: Alex Avila.
2012: Austin Jackson.
2013: Don Kelly.
2014: Don Kelly.
2015: James McCann.
2016: Ian Kinsler.
2017: Ian Kinsler.
2018: JaCoby Jones.
2019: Niko Goodrum.
2021: Robbie Grossman.
2022: Eric Haase.
2023: Matt Vierling.
2024: Riley Greene.
Contact Evan Petzold at [email protected] or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Zach McKinstry named Detroit Tigers' winner of Heart and Hustle Award
Category: Baseball
