BRONX, NEW YORK — (Tuesday, March 3, 2026) — It has been thirty six (36) years since Julio Pabón and Latino Sports founded the mission to uphold the responsibility of recognizing the stellar on-and-off-the-field performances made by Latinos across Major League Baseball.
In 1990, 36 years ago from this coming April, the inaugural Latino MVP Award was presented to Texas Rangers outfielder and Puerto Rican native Rubén Sierra at the old Yankee Stadium.
Sierra expressed his feelings for the honor and award with immense gratitude, which ultimately gauged our path forward to awarding countless players with the oldest and most prestigious award given to a Latino MLB player.
Throughout the years, the award has vastly grown with the most transcendent Latinos in the game being named a Latino MVP Award recipient such as David Ortiz, Albert Pujols, Pedro Martínez, Miguel Cabrera, Vladimir Guerrero Sr. and Jr. and many more, (2024: Francisco Lindor, NL & Juan Soto, AL).
One of many times throughout the years where Latino Sports and the LatinoMVP Awards were recognized and displayed on a MLB ballpark’s scoreboard – Image Credit: Latino Sports
After 2015, the Latino Sports Writers and Broadcasters Association (LSWBA) expanded the Latino MVP Award to honor a starting pitcher, reliever/closer, and rookie in each respective league (American & National).
As of recent years, many active and former MLB players, managers, and coaches have compared the Latino MVP Award to winning a “Latin Grammy of Baseball.”
“It’s special, there are a lot of us (Latinos) in the game. It’s a big community in our sport. There’s a lot of us in the United States, so whenever we get the chance to put our numbers out there and contribute to something that special and get nominated for (the LatinoMVP), it’s always an honor and something pretty cool.” -Francisco Lindor, recipient of the 2016 American League Latino MVP Award and 2024 National League Latino MVP Award.
We are proud that Major League Baseball has joined us in providing the resources to take the award to greater heights by becoming the official sponsor of the Latino MVP Awards.
The official ballot for the 36th Annual LatinoMVP Awards, honoring each of the player’s performance and impact from the 2025 Major League Baseball regular season – Image Credit: Latino Sports
We encourage everyone to go out and submit their votes on this year’s historic Latino MVP Award Ballot by emailing us at latsports@aol.com with your respective selections on each category.
Winners in each category for the 36th Annual Latino MVP Awards will be announced in the days following MLB’s Opening Day, taking place on Wednesday, March 25th and Thursday, March 26th.
Latino Sports and the LSWBA extend our heartfelt congratulations to every player named a 2025 LatinoMVP finalist. Being selected as a finalist for an award widely regarded as a “Latin Grammy of Baseball” is a distinguished honor and a testament to excellence, dedication, and pride.
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Blanca CaninoVigo
March 4, 2026 at 2:24 pm
As a reader of Latino Sports, I can appreciate all the articles to its fullest. Thank you Latino Sports as I enjoy it once again.