Tanner Houck Named Red Sox Nominee For 2023 Roberto Clemente Award

Nomination Celebration to take place September 22 at Fenway Park

September 8th, 2023

BOSTON, MA – Red Sox pitcher Tanner Houck was today named a 2023 nominee by Major League Baseball for the Roberto Clemente Award, a recognition given to a player who best represents the game of baseball through positive contributions on and off the field, including sportsmanship and community involvement. This is Houck’s first time being nominated.

Houck will be honored during a pregame ceremony at Fenway Park on Friday, September 22, marking the 21st annual Roberto Clemente Day, which pays tribute to the 15-time MLB All-Star and Hall of Famer’s legacy. Clemente died in a plane crash on New Year’s Eve 1972 while attempting to deliver supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

Since arriving in Boston in 2017, Houck has been a champion of charities supporting adoption, and in 2018 created “Pitch for Adoption,” a campaign aimed at raising money to place children between the ages of 6-18 who have experienced abuse or neglect in loving, caring, structured, and therapeutic homes and eventually obtain a permanent home. The Pitch for Adoption campaign supports two nonprofit organizations, Caritas Family Solutions and St. John Bosco Children’s Center.

In 2020, Houck began building an impactful relationship with the Home for Little Wanderers, the oldest U.S. child welfare agency in the country. Building on his “Pitch for Adoption” campaign, in 2023, Houck and The Home marked their official partnership with a visit to Harrington House, one of six group homes in the Boston area providing supportive living environments and services to youth who have experienced childhood trauma. As part of this partnership, Tanner welcomes children and staff to Fenway Park each month to watch batting practice from the field, meet his teammates, and take in a Red Sox game.

Houck’s passion for adoption advocacy and awareness stems from his personal connection to the cause, inspired by his adopted sister. He consistently seeks out opportunities to learn about the experiences of families impacted by adoption and prior to the 2023 regular season, Tanner attended an event in Fort Myers, Florida to support One More Child, a group whose mission is to provide services to vulnerable children and struggling families by working with single moms, feeding hungry children, helping struggling families, providing anti-human trafficking services and counseling, licensing and supporting foster families. During that event he and his wife Abby, along with teammate Garrett Whitlock, met with foster children and their caretakers to learn more about their programs and the need both domestically and globally.

In addition to Houck’s support of countless Red Sox community efforts and Red Sox Foundation charitable events annually through meet-and-greets and clinics, he has been a clubhouse leader, encouraging teammates and coaching staff to join him on visits to non-profit organizations across the city of Boston.

The league-wide winner of the Roberto Clemente Award will be selected by a blue ribbon panel, including Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr., representatives from MLB-affiliated networks (MLB Network, FOX Sports, ESPN and TBS), MLB.com, as well as Roberto’s children, Enrique, Luis and Roberto Clemente, Jr. Beginning today, fans can vote for the Roberto Clemente Award online at mlb.com/clemente21 (English) and LasMayores.com/clemente21 (Spanish). The site will feature bios of each of the nominees and will allow fans to vote until the end of the season on Sunday, October 1. The winner of the fan vote will count as one vote among those cast by the blue ribbon panel.