Josiah Gray Honored with Roberto Clemente Award Nomination

Today, Major League Baseball announced the 2024 nominees for baseball's most prestigious individual honor, the Roberto Clemente Award, and the League's plans for Roberto Clemente Day (Sunday, September 15th) – presented by Capital One.

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.

The 2024 Washington Nationals nominee for this year's award is RHP Josiah Gray. Josiah Gray and his family never hesitate to step up and contribute to the team’s charitable initiatives like the “Strike Out Breast Cancer” campaign. Earlier this year, Josiah was selected by Sarah Langs as the Nationals representative for MLB’s Lou Gehrig Day Auction due to his leadership within the game of baseball. Most significantly, Josiah has cemented his place in the fabric of the team’s community impact by accepting a title beyond “pitcher” in 2022 when he was named Player Ambassador to the Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy.

Since then, Josiah has built strong bonds at the Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy, serving as a resource to the school-aged children who participate in its programs and acting as a link between the Nationals clubhouse and the community.

He follows the time-honored tradition of former Player Ambassadors Josh Bell, Anthony Rendon, and Ian Desmond, who first envisioned the role when the Academy opened its doors in 2014.

The league-wide winner of the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One will be announced at the 2024 World Series presented by Capital One, 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.

On Roberto Clemente Day, all players, managers, and coaches on the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Club for which Roberto played his entire Hall of Fame career, will again wear Roberto's "21" on their uniforms. Additional uniform elements include:

All players and on-field personnel will wear a "21" patch on their uniform sleeves. The Roberto Clemente Award nominees presented by Capital One will have language noting their recognition on their patches.

All Roberto Clemente Award nominees and previous Award recipients will have the option to wear "21" as their uniform number, joining players from Puerto Rico and others who wore the number during previous commemorations of Roberto Clemente Day.

As they have done throughout the past few seasons, all active Roberto Clemente Award winners will have the "21" patch on the back of their caps in recognition.