Nominees Announced for 2025 Roberto Clemente Award Presented by Capital One
Mookie Betts, Francisco Lindor, Corey Seager, Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal and Bobby Witt Jr. Among the List of Philanthropic Players Nominated
Nominees Will Be Recognized by Clubs in Honor of Roberto Clemente Day presented by Capital One
Major League Baseball today announced 2025 plans to celebrate the humanitarian legacy of Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente, centered around the annual Roberto Clemente Day and baseball’s most prestigious individual honor, the Roberto Clemente Award – both of which are presented by Capital One.
The 30 Club nominees for the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One include some of the game’s most philanthropic players, including 19 first-time honorees. The Roberto Clemente Award 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. The nominees, announced this morning exclusively on MLB Network, will be recognized in ballparks beginning today, September 15th, Roberto Clemente Day presented by Capital One. Major League Baseball established Roberto Clemente Day in 2002 to honor the late Hall of Famer’s legacy as a humanitarian.
The 30 Club nominees of the 2025 Roberto Clemente Award are listed below:
Arizona Diamondbacks – Corbin Carroll*
Athletics – Lawrence Butler*
Atlanta Braves – Spencer Strider*
Baltimore Orioles – Jordan Westburg*
Boston Red Sox – Liam Hendriks
Chicago Cubs – Kyle Tucker
Chicago White Sox – Mike Tauchman*
Cincinnati Reds – Brent Suter
Cleveland Guardians – Bo Naylor*
Colorado Rockies – Kyle Freeland
Detroit Tigers – Tarik Skubal
Houston Astros – Josh Hader*
Kansas City Royals – Bobby Witt Jr.*
Los Angeles Angels – Logan O’Hoppe*
Los Angeles Dodgers – Mookie Betts
Miami Marlins – Griffin Conine*
Milwaukee Brewers – Sal Frelick*
Minnesota Twins – Pablo López
New York Mets – Francisco Lindor
New York Yankees – Carlos Rodón*
Philadelphia Phillies – Aaron Nola
Pittsburgh Pirates – Paul Skenes*
San Diego Padres – Joe Musgrove
San Francisco Giants – Ryan Walker*
Seattle Mariners – J.P. Crawford
St. Louis Cardinals – Brendan Donovan*
Tampa Bay Rays – Pete Fairbanks*
Texas Rangers – Corey Seager*
Toronto Blue Jays – José Berríos*
Washington Nationals – Trevor Williams*
*=First-time nominee
As part of the annual program, each MLB Club nominates one player to be considered for the leaguewide Award in tribute to Clemente’s achievements and character. This list of nominees features players whose various community and philanthropic activities have focused on important causes such as underserved children and communities in the United States and around the world, individuals with cancer and other illnesses, educational programs, environmental advocacy, and more.
2025 Roberto Clemente Award Nominees – BY THE NUMBERS
- 50 career All-Star selections, including nine 2025 All-Stars
- Eight career Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners
- Six World Series Championships
- Three Rookies of the Year (Carroll, Seager, Skenes)
- One League MVP (Betts)
- Two Postseason MVPs (Betts, Seager)
- Four MLB Develops Youth Program Alumni (Butler, Crawford, Rodón, Witt Jr.)
The leaguewide winner of the Roberto Clemente Award will be honored at the 2025 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 features bios of each of the nominees, allows fans to vote until the end of the season on Sunday, September 28th. 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 tribute to Clemente following his passing.
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.
Today, 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 upper left chest, with nominees of the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One having language noting their recognition on their patches.
- NOTE:Teams across the league not playing today, September 15th, will commemorate the day on Tuesday, September 16th.
- 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 logos for Clemente Day and MLB Together 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.
Taking place on September 15th, Roberto Clemente Day also marks the start of Hispanic Heritage Month. Throughout the month, MLB will highlight the impact and contributions of the Latin American community throughout baseball. Under the umbrella of MLB’s established brand campaign “El Béisbol Es Otra Cosa” (Baseball is Something Else), the League premiered three multimedia spots celebrating the heritage and journeys of some of the game’s most electrifying Latino stars. The spots, which debuted this August, feature Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Atlanta Braves, Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets and Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres. Lin-Manuel Miranda narrated these campaign spots, weaving together powerful stories from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Venezuela, celebrating the music, culture and baseball legends that unite these nations with the game.
Throughout the month, MLB and MLB Español social will share original content, celebrating the heritage and traditions unique to the League’s Latin players. Hispanic Heritage Month efforts are complementary to the year-round focus the League aims to celebrate and promote Latine culture throughout the game. MLB Español, the League’s official Spanish platform and dedicated MLB country accounts (MLB Cuba, MLB Dominicana, MLB Mexico, MLB Puerto Rico and MLB Venezuela) highlight the accomplishments of players and personnel from those unique regions throughout the year.