Arlington, Texas — Major League Baseball this morning announced that first baseman Jake Burger has been named the Texas Rangers 2026 nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One, baseball’s most prestigious individual honor for Major League players.
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.
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. The league-wide winner of the Roberto Clemente Award will be honored at the 2026 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 also vote for the Roberto Clemente Award by visiting mlbtogether.com/clementeaward. The site, which will feature bios of each nominee, allows fans to vote through the end of the regular season on Sunday, September 27th. The fan-vote winner will count as one vote among those cast by the panel.
Burger, 31, will be recognized as the club’s 2026 Roberto Clemente Award nominee during a pre-game ceremony at Globe Life Field prior to Tuesday night’s game against the Boston Red Sox at 7:05 p.m. CT.
“It’s hard to put into words what it means to be nominated for an award named after Roberto Clemente. He set the example for what it means to use this game to help others, and just being mentioned alongside his name is an incredible honor,” said Burger. “I’m grateful to the Rangers organization and proud of the work The Burger Family Foundation has been able to do by helping so many families in the Down syndrome community.”
This marks the first career Roberto Clemente Award nomination for Burger, who has made a significant impact in the Dallas-Fort Worth community and beyond since joining the Rangers organization before the start of the 2025 campaign.
In March of 2025, Jake and his wife, Ashlyn, founded The Burger Family Foundation in honor of their daughter, Penelope, who was born with Down syndrome. The foundation aims to support and celebrate families like the Burgers through direct financial assistance, therapy, community engagement, and the healing power of ranch life. Jake is currently the only active Major League Baseball player with a child diagnosed with Down syndrome.
Throughout his time with Texas, Burger has been actively involved in a variety of charitable and community-focused efforts, including:
- Raised over $150,000 through his foundation’s ‘Down Syndrome Is Cool’ merchandise initiative. The collection of apparel and accessories serves as a platform for advocacy, creating opportunities to start conversations about Down syndrome while promoting a culture of inclusion and acceptance.
- Hosted ‘Down Syndrome Awareness Day’ at Globe Life Field in both 2025 and 2026, with proceeds from specialty ticket and ‘Down Syndrome is Cool’ merchandise sales benefiting local Down syndrome organizations.
- Partnered with the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation and the club’s exclusive concessionaire, Delaware North Sportservice, to ensure that a portion of the proceeds from every Jake Burger jersey sold at Globe Life Field over the last two seasons has been donated to The Burger Family Foundation. Burger wears no. 21 on his uniform in honor of the clinical name for Down syndrome, ‘Trisomy 21’.
- Underwrote seven food distributions at the Texas Rangers Youth Academy in West Dallas, which provided roughly $30,000 in fresh produce and shelf-stable goods to Academy athletes and their families this summer.
- Dedicated time on team road trips to visit dozens of ‘GiGi’s Playhouse Down Syndrome Achievement Center’ locations across the country. In May of this year, Jake and Ashlyn hosted an event at Miracle League Doug Inman Field in Arlington to raise funds towards the opening of a GiGi’s Playhouse in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.
- Launched the first phase of The Burger Family Foundation’s flagship initiative, ‘Lucky Ranch’, a multi-acre facility located in Nashville, Tenn. designed to create employment opportunities for adults with disabilities.
Earlier this year, The Players Trust, the charitable arm of the Major League Baseball Players Association, selected Burger as its Most Valuable Philanthropist honoree for the month of May. The recognition resulted in a $10,000 grant made to The Burger Family Foundation, which was put towards the opening of the Lucky Ranch facility.
Burger has batted .233 with 26 home runs and a team-leading 83 RBI over 143 games for the Rangers this season.
About the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One
Tuesday, September 15th marks the annual celebration of 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 presented by Capital One and the MLB Together logos will appear on base jewels and official dugout lineup cards. Additionally, all players and on-field personnel will wear a “21” patch on their uniform sleeves, with nominees of the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One having language noting their recognition on their patches. Previous Clemente Award winners, 2026 Roberto Clemente Award nominees, and players and coaches from Puerto Rico will also have the option to wear “21” as their uniform number for the day.
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 a tribute to Clemente following his passing while delivering relief supplies for earthquake victims in Nicaragua on December 31, 1972.