2024 nominees announced for baseball’s most prestigious player honor – the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One
Major League Baseball today announced the 2024 nominees for baseball’s most prestigious individual honor, the Roberto Clemente Award, and the League’s plans for Roberto Clemente Day (Sunday, September 15th) – both of which are presented by Capital One. The nominees, which were announced LIVE exclusively on MLB Network, will be recognized in ballparks beginning on Sunday, September 15th, Roberto Clemente Day presented by Capital One, to complement the celebrations of the Hall of Famer’s humanitarian legacy throughout MLB.
The Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One is the annual recognition of a Major League player who best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field. This list of nominees (individually nominated by each MLB Club) features players whose various community-impact and philanthropic activities have focused on advocating and supporting important causes such as education programs, cancer, mental health, access to baseball & softball, environmental sustainability, and more. The 30 Club nominees for the 2024 Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One, which includes 17 first-time honorees, are as follows:
Arizona Diamondbacks – Paul Sewald *
Atlanta Braves – Chris Sale *
Baltimore Orioles – James McCann
Boston Red Sox – Liam Hendriks
Chicago Cubs – Patrick Wisdom *
Chicago White Sox – Andrew Vaughn *
Cincinnati Reds – Brent Suter
Cleveland Guardians – Steven Kwan *
Colorado Rockies – Kyle Freeland
Detroit Tigers – Tarik Skubal *
Houston Astros – Kyle Tucker *
Kansas City Royals – Salvador Perez
Los Angeles Angels – Mike Trout
Los Angeles Dodgers – Mookie Betts *
Miami Marlins – Jesús Luzardo *
Milwaukee Brewers – Freddy Peralta *
Minnesota Twins – Pablo López
New York Mets – Francisco Lindor
New York Yankees – Marcus Stroman
Oakland Athletics – Mason Miller *
Philadelphia Phillies – Kyle Schwarber
Pittsburgh Pirates – David Bednar
San Diego Padres – Manny Machado *
San Francisco Giants – Mike Yastrzemski *
Seattle Mariners – J.P. Crawford *
St. Louis Cardinals – Paul Goldschmidt
Tampa Bay Rays – Jason Adam *
Texas Rangers – Marcus Semien *
Toronto Blue Jays – Chris Bassitt *
Washington Nationals – Josiah Gray
*=First-time Nominee
2024 Roberto Clemente Award Nominees – BY THE NUMBERS
- 76 career MLB All-Star selections, including seven 2024 All-Stars
- 24 career Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners
- 32 career Silver Slugger Award winners
- Seven World Series Championships
- Three League MVPs (Betts, Goldschmidt, Trout)
- One Postseason MVP (Perez)
- Two MLB Develops Youth Program Alumni (Gray, Crawford)
The league-wide winner of the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One will be announced at the 2024 World Series presented by Capital One, following selection by a blue-ribbon panel. This panel includes representatives from the Commissioner’s Office, Capital One, MLB-affiliated networks (MLB Network, FOX Sports, ESPN and TBS), MLB.com, the National Baseball Hall of Fame, as well as Roberto’s children, Enrique, Luis and Roberto Clemente, Jr. Beginning today, fans can vote for the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One via MLBTogether.com/clementeaward (in both English and Spanish). The site, which features bios of each nominee, allows fans to vote through the end of the season on Sunday, September 29th. The winner of the fan vote will count as one vote among those cast by the blue-ribbon panel.
The concept of honoring Major League players for their philanthropic work was created in 1971 as the “Commissioner’s Award.” The recognition was renamed to the “Roberto Clemente Award” in 1973 as tribute to Clemente following his passing on December 31, 1972 during a humanitarian mission to deliver relief supplies for earthquake victims in Nicaragua. Major League Baseball established Roberto Clemente Day in 2002 as an additional honor to the late Hall of Famer’s legacy, further encouraging philanthropic leadership across the League.
A customized tribute video to Clemente’s legacy and the 30 Roberto Clemente Award nominees (ENGLISH & SPANISH) will be shown in all MLB ballparks on Roberto Clemente Day as well as across MLB Network, MLB.com, MLB.tv, Club sites and MLB Social Media platforms.
On Roberto Clemente Day, all players, managers and coaches on the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Club for which Roberto played his entire Hall of Fame career, will once again wear Roberto’s “21” on their uniforms. Additional uniform elements include:
- All players and on-field personnel will wear a “21” patch on their uniform sleeves, with nominees of the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One having language noting their recognition on their patches.
- All Roberto Clemente Award nominees and previous Award recipients will have the option to wear “21” as their uniform number, joining players from Puerto Rico and others who wore the number during previous commemorations of Roberto Clemente Day.
- As they have done all throughout the past few seasons, all active Roberto Clemente Award winners will have the “21” patch on the back of their caps in recognition of their place in this special fraternity.
Throughout the league, the Roberto Clemente Day presented by Capital One and the MLB Together logo will appear on base jewels and official dugout lineup cards. MLB.com and all 30 Club sites also will feature Roberto Clemente Day and Award stories and content.