Pirates ace Paul Skenes nominated for Roberto Clemente Award

Prior to the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Monday contest against the Chicago Cubs, Paul Skenes was honored as the team’s nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award. This is the first time that Skenes has been nominated for this award.

The award is named after the Pirates legendary right fielder and humanitarian Roberto Clemente. Clemente dedicated himself to humanitarian work in the Caribbean, Latin America, as well as his adopted hometown of Pittsburgh. The award is given every year to the player “who best represents the game through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions both on and off the field.”

Clemente was bound for Nicaragua in 1972 with earthquake relief supplies when his plane tragically crashed off the coast of his native Puerto Rico. Himself and everyone else on board was killed in the accident. Originally called the “Commissioners Award” it was renamed in 1973 following Clemente’s passing. Since then the Pirates’ Willie Stargell received the award in 1974, and Andrew McCutchen received it in 2015.

Skenes said that just being associated with a great player like Clemente is already an honor.

From the beginning of his MLB career Skenes has been dedicated to giving back to the military and veteran community in America, partnering with the Gary Sinise Foundation. The foundation honors and supports first responders, active duty military members, veterans, wounded heroes, families of fallen service members, and military personnel dealing with mental health disorders. The Emmy Award winning actor established the foundation in 2011 has raised over $400 million dollars in its lifetime, raising $92 million dollars in just this past year alone.

This is the second year that Skenes has partnered with the program, declaring at the beginning of the season that he would donate $100 dollars for every strikeout he records in 2025. His initial goal for the season was to help raise $100,000 dollars, which through many donations from partners, fans, and so many others was achieved by September. Skenes then increased the season goal to $15o,ooo which has also been eclipsed with the total for the year currently sitting at $158,217 dollars.

Skenes released a statement prior to the season getting underway about his partnership with the Gary Sinise Foundation.

Skenes and his ties to the military started when he was a two-way player at the United States Air Force Academy. When he wasn’t playing baseball, he was training as a cadet to become an F-16 pilot following his graduation. Plans changed when it seemed that he could be a great player at the next level, and he transferred to LSU before being drafted by the Pirates first overall in 2023. Even still, though Skenes has said before he’d like to pursue some kind of military career when his playing days are done, and was even the first pitcher to declare that he’d be playing for Team USA in the next iteration of the World Baseball Classic in 2026.

Skenes says that getting to represent the Pirates, who are obviously so connected to this award, is also a huge honor.

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