NEW YORK, NY — This past March as the 2026 World Baseball Classic was in full swing at the same time of all 30 Major League Baseball teams ramping up for the regular season with spring training taking place in Arizona and Florida, Latino Sports worked around the clock in providing coverage on all we could for our followers and readers from all over the globe. As we do so each and every day.
During that chaotic yet exciting span, members of the Latino Sports team traveling to Puerto Rico and then Miami for the WBC interviewed several finalists of the 36th Annual LatinoMVP Awards, the oldest and most prestigious awards earned by Latin MLB athletes each season dating back to 1990.
One of many LatinoMVP award presentations at Yankee Stadium in previous years as 2026 will have two with Carlos Rodón (2025 AL LatinoMVP Pitcher of the Year) and Jasson Domínguez (2025 AL LatinoMVP Rookie of the Year) – Image Credit: Latino Sports
In our interviews with many finalists such Venezuela’s Eugenio Suárez of the Reds, and Maikel García of the Royals, among others, we discussed the significance of being named a finalist for such a prestigious award, one that is known by many players as a “Latin Grammy of Baseball,” along with their thoughts of there being awards exclusively given each season to Latin MLB athletes.
While there were a number of finalists who participated for their respective country in the WBC, there were some of whom we were not able to interview due to their busy schedule leading up to games and national/international media attending to them in the postgames.
The 2026 World Baseball Classic, played in Japan, Puerto Rico, Houston and Miami, had media outlets and television networks based from all over the world in attendance to provide coverage on the games and much more last month – Image Credit: Joel Rodriguez/Latino Sports
With that, Latino Sports and the Latino Sports Writers and Broadcasters Associations, proud to develop a closer relationship with Major League Baseball over the last 36 years, came up together with the idea of having reporters of MLB.com join in on the action to interview finalists for the 2025 LatinoMVP Awards.
Awards that many players may not know about or have much knowledge on as the inaugural year of the LatinoMVP was in 1990, a time when many active Major Leaguers were not even born yet.
First up on the agenda—Andrés Muñoz of the Seattle Mariners—named a finalist for the American League LatinoMVP Reliever of the Year Award after posting a 1.73 ERA in 2025 across 64 appearances with 38 saves and 83 strikeouts.
“It’s something really special (to me),” Muñoz said of appearing on the 36th Annual LatinoMVP Awards ballot. “I never heard about that before, but if they (Latino Sports, the LSWBA and MLB) give the recognition to all the Latinos, I feel like personally thanking them for putting me in that position. I’m very proud to just be considered and being put in that group and list of names. Just proud and just very humble to be a part of that.”
The 27-year-old right-hander from Los Mochis, Mexico pitched in the World Baseball Classic last month for his homeland, marking his first WBC trip with Team Mexico.
When asked of the opportunity to do so and what the WBC experience was like, Muñoz stated, “It’s just trying to put our country’s name up to the highest level. Every time that we go out there and do anything to help the team win, but you’re kind of putting a little and doing a little something extra to keep your country’s name up there.”
Second after Muñoz was Los Angeles Dodgers’ flamethrowing right-handed closer Edwin Díaz, already winning the LatinoMVP Reliever of the Year Award twice throughout his MLB career as his first came in 2018 (American League) with the Mariners and then in 2022 (National League) with the Mets.
Like Muñoz, Díaz—recording a 1.63 ERA over 62 games in 2025 with 28 saves and 98 strikeouts—also pitched in the 2026 WBC, representing Puerto Rico, which was his third consecutive WBC appearance with Team Puerto Rico (2017, 2023 and 2026).
“Being nominated means a lot,” said the 32-year-old of Naguabo, Puerto Rico. “Not many players can win the (LatinoMVP) award, so having the opportunity to be there and nominated is a blessing. Hopefully I can win it again, that would be great.”
Providing Latino Sports many in-depth interviews previously, with more in store for the 2026 regular season, Díaz, appreciative of our work, and now a three-time LatinoMVP Reliever of the Year with our results being announced last week for the 36th Annual LatinoMVP Awards, added:
“They are recognizing all the Latin players. We have a bunch of Latin players in the league and being able to be in that group is special because there are so many doing really good things on the field right now.”
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