Major League Baseball on Monday named Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez the recipient of the 2024 Roberto Clemente Award. Perez will be honored prior to Monday night’s World Series Game 3 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.
The Clemente Award honors the “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,” according to MLB. It was originally introduced in 1971 and was named after Clemente two years later — after the icon died in a plane crash while attempting to provide humanitarian aid to earthquake victims.
Perez’s list of off-the-field contributions are vast and include, among other things, providing food and supplies to needy families in his native Venezuela, paying for surgeries for children who have cleft lips and partnering with organizations to fight ALS.
Perez, 34, hit .271/.330/.456 (119 OPS+) this season with 27 home runs and 104 runs batted in for the surprising Royals, who made the playoffs for the first time since 2015 before losing to the Yankees in the ALDS. His contributions were worth an estimated 2.5 Wins Above Replacement, according to Baseball-Reference’s calculations.
Perez also made his ninth career All-Star Game. Additionally, his accomplishments include five Gold Glove Awards, four Silver Slugger Awards, and both a World Series victory and a World Series Most Valuable Player designation from Kansas City’s championship win back in 2015.
Past winners of the Clemente Award include Aaron Judge, Andrew McCutchen, Derek Jeter, David Ortiz and Jimmy Rollins.
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