Altuve, Stanton named 2017 Hank Aaron Award winners

Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve and Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton were named winners of the 2017 Hank Aaron Award as the most outstanding offensive players in their respective leagues, Major League Baseball announced Wednesday.

The players were presented with their awards by Aaron and commissioner Rob Manfred in a press conference before Game 2 of the World Series.

Altuve - the first Astros player to win the Hank Aaron Award - earned the honors by hitting .346/.410/.547 with 204 hits, 24 homers, 39 doubles, 112 runs scored, and 32 stolen bases. The 27-year-old collected his third batting title in the last four seasons and led the AL in hits for the fourth straight year; he also became only the fifth player ever to record four consecutive 200-hit seasons.

"You have stood tall," Aaron said of the 5-foot-6 Altuve, according to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. "I would pay (to) go see him."

Stanton took home the National League honors after his monster season for the Marlins. He crushed an MLB-best 59 homers - the most hit by any player since 2006 - while leading all hitters with 132 RBIs and a .631 slugging percentage. Stanton's 1.007 OPS was also second-best in the NL.

This marks Stanton's second career Hank Aaron Award; he previously won it in 2014. The 27-year-old now finds himself on an exclusive list of multiple-time winners of the honor since it was first established in 1999.