Mandatory Credit: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports

Major League Baseball officially announced the 2021 Roberto Clemente nominee’s on Tuesday morning, and the representative for the New York Mets is unsurprisingly first baseman Pete Alonso.

The Roberto Clemente award is MLB’s prestigious philanthropic honor. The award is presented annually to the player who best represents the game through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy, and contributions both on and off the field.

Each team nominates one player to be considered for the award in tribute to Clemente’s achievements and character. The nominees will officially be recognized beginning on Roberto Clemente Day which is Wednesday, September 15.

Some of the other nominees for the 2021 season include Max Scherzer, Miguel Rojas, Joey Votto, Ian Desmond, Nelson Cruz, Paul Goldschmidt, Will Smith, Bo Bichette, Mike Trout, and Trey Mancini amongst others.

If this award isn’t Pete Alonso in a nutshell, then I’m not sure what is. Alonso is not only a superstar with his ferocious power on the field, but he’s also a terrific role model and ambassador for the game off the field.

Back in 2019, Alonso donated 10% of his $1 million Home Run Derby winnings to the Wounded Warrior Project and the Tunnel to Towers Fund. Alonso and his fiancé, Haley, were then inspired to start up their “Homers for Heroes” foundation.

Alonso has continued to do tremendous work in the Queens community. He also released an NFT that raised money for minor leaguers in March, and again released one this past week with a portion of the proceeds going towards the 9/11 Memorial Never Forget Fund.

Alonso said earlier this year, “I try to not just be a good ballplayer, but I want to be a good person as well. I feel like I have such a cool platform, and I don’t want to just play baseball and be good at it. Hopefully, I can impact other people’s lives and make someone else’s life better.”

Some players just get it, and Pete Alonso is certainly one of those players. Congrats to Pete and all of the other nominee’s on this tremendous honor.

You can read about the rest of the nominees and cast your vote for big Pete here!