MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL, MN – Major League Baseball today announced that right-handed pitcher Pablo López has been named the Minnesota Twins’ 2024 nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One, baseball’s most prestigious individual honor for major leaguers.

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. As part of the annual program, each MLB Club nominates one player to be considered for the league-wide Award in tribute to Clemente’s achievements and character.

Giving back to the community is part of Pablo López’s ethos and his commitment to using his platform as a major league player for good parallels his drive for excellence on the field. One of the first things López did when he was acquired by the Twins in January 2023 was ask for the phone number of the Executive Director of the Minnesota Twins Community Fund (MTCF), to kickstart his charitable involvement with his new team. In the year and a half since then, he has continuously used his platform to improve the lives of others and uplift those around him. In addition to generous financial support for the MTCF and its mission, López often takes the time to encourage young people at MTCF programs. This summer, López helped coach young athletes at MTCF’s adaptive wheelchair softball clinic, making youth of all ages and abilities feel welcome, inspired and celebrated on the field. In 2023, he was a speaker at the Twins High School Leadership Academy, addressing an audience of baseball and softball team captains from across Minnesota. That same year, López participated in the Twins’ spring volunteer opportunity, sorting donations with the United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades Counties to help Florida rebound in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in December 2022.

This season, Pablo and his wife, Kaylee, started the “Pablo Day” initiative, turning his regular season home starts into an opportunity to bring awareness and financial support to three nonprofits and causes close to their hearts. One beneficiary, Children’s Minnesota, is inspired by his late parents – both doctors – and his decision at age 16 to choose between a medical school acceptance offer and a professional contract. Every September in recognition of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, López visits Children’s Minnesota and the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital and has become a favorite of patients through his interactions with them and their families. Another Pablo Day beneficiary is Ruff Start Rescue, for Pablo and Kaylee’s love of animals; the pair recently adopted a puppy – their second rescue dog – through the organization, which focuses on finding loving homes for abandoned animals. The third Pablo Day nonprofit is Project Success, a program dedicated to supporting students that represents the Lópezes’ commitment to empowering youth through education. López takes advantage of every opportunity he can to support students, bringing underserved students back-to-school shopping to equip them with the supplies they need to be successful and visiting local high school classes to help students practice their foreign language conversational skills.

“Pablo López is a clubhouse leader, dominant starting pitcher and fierce competitor on the field, and a community beacon and force for a better tomorrow across Twins Territory,” Twins President & CEO Dave St. Peter said. “From the moment he joined our organization, Pablo made it clear that charitable involvement off the field was just as important to him as success on it. His embodiment of these values, instilled by his upbringing and in parallel with the those exemplified by Roberto Clemente, are why he is so deserving of this award.”

This is López’s second time being nominated for the Roberto Clemente Award in his seven-year career; he was previously the Miami Marlins’ nominee in 2022. Four past Twins nominees have been named winner of the award – Rod Carew (1977), Dave Winfield (1994), Kirby Puckett (1996) and Nelson Cruz (2021). The Twins will recognize López prior to the club’s Sunday, September 15 home game.

Sunday, September 15 marks the annual Roberto Clemente Day presented by Capital One, which was established by Major League Baseball to honor Clemente’s legacy as a humanitarian and to formally acknowledge Club nominees of the Roberto Clemente Award. As part of the league-wide celebration, the Roberto Clemente Day logo will appear on the bases and official dugout lineup cards, and a customized tribute video to Clemente and the 30 Roberto Clemente Award nominees will be shown in all MLB ballparks on Roberto Clemente Day as well as on MLB Network, MLB.com, MLB.tv, Club sites and MLB Social Media Platforms.

The league-wide winner of the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One will be honored at the 2024 World Series 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 will feature bios of each of the nominees, will allow fans to vote until the end of the season on Sunday, September 29. 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 while delivering relief supplies for earthquake victims in Nicaragua on December 31, 1972.