Chris Taylor is Dodgers’ 2023 Roberto Clemente Award nominee

Dodgers utility man Chris Taylor is the Dodgers nominee for the 2023 Roberto Clemente Award, which honors annually players “who best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.”

All 30 nominees across MLB will be recognized in their home ballparks beginning on Friday, September 15, which is Roberto Clemente Day across the sport, honoring the legacy of the former Pirates star and Hall of Famer.

The Dodgers are in Seattle that weekend, so Taylor will be honored on the field at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, September 21 before a game against the Giants.

In 2020, Taylor and his wife Mary started the CT3 Foundation, which helps children and families in both Los Angeles and Taylor’s hometown of Virginia Beach.

In January, the foundation hosted its first Driving For Hope event at Top Golf, which raised money for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The foundation recently helped remodel a garden at the Variety Boys & Girls Club in Los Angeles. Taylor’s foundation has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of charities, including partnering with Roc Solid in Virginia during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September.

”I’m truly humbled to represent the Dodgers as the Roberto Clemente Award nominee,” Taylor said in a statement. “Mary and I are incredibly proud to be a part of both the Los Angeles and Virginia Beach communities and to be recognized for trying to give something back to these great places and people is something I will hold in my heart forever.”

This is the first time Taylor has been nominated for the Clemente Award.

Fans can vote online for the MLB-wide winner of the Roberto Clemente Award through October 1. Fan voting accounts for only part of a panel who will decide the award, including representatives from the commissioner’s office, MLB Network, ESPN, Fox, TBS, MLBcom, the Baseball Hall of Fame, Roberto’s children Enrique, Luis and Roberto Clemente, Jr., and even a sponsor (Capital One).

The league-wide winner of the Clemente Award will be announced during the World Series. Three Dodgers have won the award, which dates back to 1971 — Steve Garvey in 1981, Clayton Kershaw in 2012, and Justin Turner in 2022.