HOUSTON -- Veteran first baseman Joe Mauer, who has long been respected around baseball for his work away from the field, was named the Twins' nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award for the third straight year, Major League Baseball announced on Tuesday.
The Roberto Clemente Award annually recognizes one player from each club who "best represents the game of Baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field." The overall winner, which is picked by a panel of experts that includes MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, MLB-affiliated networks, MLB.com and fan voting, will be announced during the 2018 World Series.
"It's awesome," Mauer said. "It's an honor. It's humbling to be recognized. To be recognized for something that's for on the field and off the field, it's pretty special."
• All-time winners
Major League Baseball will celebrate the 17th annual Roberto Clemente Day on Wednesday and fans can also begin voting at mlb.com/clemente21. Mauer, 35, has never won the overall award, and he is looking to join Hall of Famers Rod Carew (1977), Dave Winfield (1994) and Kirby Puckett ('96) as the only Twins to earn the prestigious honor.
"It's a pretty good list if you look through the years of people who have received that recognition," manager Paul Molitor said. "I think it means a lot to players, not only to have the chance to be the nominee from their team, but potentially be the overall Clemente winner. Just people of high character that have taken advantage of their position to try to give back in different ways, and Joe certainly has been one of those guys for a long time."
Mauer, a St. Paul native, has always been active in the local community with his wife, Maddie. They annually host the Mauer and Friends Kids Classic luncheon event to benefit Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare, which has raised more than $1 million for the hospital's foundation. He works with several local and national charities such as the Highland Friendship Club, Friends of St. Paul Baseball, Volunteers of America and is an active member of the MLB Players Association's Action Team. He also created a community ticket program called Mauer's Minnies, providing Twins game tickets to thousands of economically disadvantaged youth from Minneapolis and St. Paul.
"I think we've always tried to do that," Mauer said. "The Twins do a really good job of going out in the community. It's good to show support for fans. They support us on the field. Obviously, growing up there, it makes it even more special for me."
Worth noting
• Left fielder Eddie Rosario, who has been out since Thursday with a strained right quad, has progressed to hitting in the cages and running on the field. He could take batting practice as early as Wednesday.
• Molitor said the Twins considered bringing up lefty Lewis Thorpe as a September callup, but they were comfortable with the amount of innings he had thrown this season in the Minors. Thorpe, who missed the 2015-16 seasons after Tommy John surgery, posted a 3.54 ERA with 157 strikeouts in 129 2/3 innings between Double-A Chattanooga and Triple-A Rochester.
"We like Thorpe," Molitor said. "It just would have been very difficult to try to find much out about him if we would have brought him in. He had a good year. His innings were extended. He'll come back in next year and compete."