Major League Baseball today announced that left-handed pitcher Taylor Hearn was named the Texas Rangers 2022 nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One, baseball's most prestigious individual honor for Major Leaguers.

The Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One 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.

Hearn will be recognized as the Rangers 2022 Roberto Clemente Award nominee in a pre-game ceremony on Tuesday, September 20 when Texas hosts the Los Angeles Angels at 7:05 p.m.

In just three seasons with the Rangers from 2020-22, Hearn has made an enormous impact in the community, taking part in events and contributing to causes that are important to him. The Royse City, Texas native has focused his much of his efforts on providing opportunity for young athletes and those from underprivileged backgrounds.

In June he hosted a free ProCamp at the Texas Rangers Youth Academy for over 100 athletes from first through eighth grades in conjunction with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Also in 2022, Hearn has sponsored a youth baseball team in Tema, Ghana promoting the sport of baseball in Africa by sending equipment, t-shirts, and monetary sponsorship. He visited numerous high school baseball teams this past off-season, working with the players in workouts and question-and-answer sessions.

Hearn has also donated his time and efforts to the Alzheimer's Association to honor his grandmother, who passed away from this devastating disease. He created and sold a special t-shirt in her memory with proceeds benefiting the Alzheimer's Association. In 2021, he partnered with Big League Impact #ALLWINS Texas Campaign to benefit the Alzheimer's Association of Dallas.

For the 2021 holiday season, he hosted a "Week of Giving" for the Thanksgiving holiday, partnering with Kroger to donate gift cards to students at Kennedy-Curry Middle School in Dallas, worked with Dicks Sporting Goods to give twelve deserving children holiday gifts with a $300 shopping spree, and provided dinner for residents of Arlington Life Shelter.

In addition, Hearn has been involved with community initiatives for The Players Alliance, Outerstuff, the Arlington Life Shelter, and has been an active participant in numerous events at the Texas Rangers MLB Youth Academy in West Dallas.

"The Texas Rangers are proud to nominate Taylor Hearn for the 2022 Roberto Clemente Award," said Neil Leibman, Texas Rangers President of Business Operations and Chief Operating Officer and Chairman of the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation. "In just a few short years. Taylor has made a huge influence in this community that has been beneficial for so many causes and initiatives. We especially appreciate all the work he has done with the athletes at our Texas Rangers MLB Youth Academy. On behalf of the Rangers, I congratulate Taylor for a job well done."

Thursday, September 15th marks the 21st annual Roberto Clemente Day presented by Capital One, which was established by Major League Baseball to honor Clemente's legacy as a humanitarian. As part of the league-wide celebration for clubs that play at home on September 15, the Roberto Clemente Day logo will appear on the bases and official dugout lineup cards and a special tribute video will be played in ballparks. Additionally, a customized tribute video to both Roberto and his wife Vera – Momentito (in English and Spanish) – will be shown in all MLB ballparks on Roberto Clemente Day as well as on MLB Network, MLB.com, Club sites and MLB Social Media Platforms.

The league-wide winner of the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One will be selected via a blue ribbon panel, including Commissioner Manfred, representatives from Capital One, 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 presented by Capital One via 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 Wednesday, October 5th. The winner of the fan vote will count as one vote among those cast by the blue-ribbon panel.

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 in honor of the Hall of Famer and 15-time All-Star who died in a plane crash on New Year's Eve 1972 while attempting to deliver supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.