Cleveland Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis expressed his gratitude to reporters after being nominated for the Roberto Clemente Award on Tuesday, as Jordan Bastian of MLB.com writes.
The award, named after one of the game's legendary athletes and ambassadors, is given to the player who, "best represents the game of baseball through positive contributions on and off the field, including sportsmanship and community involvement."
Kipnis spoke of his appreciation for receiving the honor given the off-field contributions of many other Indians players, as each team receives one nomination.
Anyone who gets into the same sentence with [Clemente] is obviously honored. You try to be a good person and a good teammate on and off the field. Everyone knows that's what he was. He is a role model for that... There's a lot of guys on this team that I know personally could have been good recipients of that award, too. They do off-field activities and help out where they can, and give up some of their free time to visit people in hospitals and stuff like that. I'm definitely honored to accept the nomination and represent Cleveland.
The 25-year-old second baseman has also had a solid season on the field, hitting .253/.326/.378 with 14 homers and 27 stolen bases.