Kansas City, Mo. — Miguel Cabrera, never one to take his own accomplishments all that seriously, doesn’t joke around when it comes to being the Tigers’ nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, which he has been every year for nearly a decade.
“I don’t do this for an award,” Cabrera said before the game Saturday. “I do it because I want to do it. People say, ‘Oh, it’s nice for you to do that.’ But it’s not for me. I want to do something for (the community). That’s why I do it.”
The Clemente Award recognizes the player who best represents the game through character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions on and off the field. One player is nominated from each team.
Cabrera will be presented his nomination in a pregame ceremony next Friday at Comerica Park before the Tigers play the White Sox.
“This is something that my whole family is involved with, not only me,” Cabrera said. “I have a lot of people behind me that do a lot of the work. They deserve this more than me.”
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Cabrera and his wife Rosangel established the Miguel Cabrera Foundation over 10 years ago. One of the first projects was to provide scholarships for Venezuelans who were stranded at universities outside the country.
“The scholarships are a great thing,” he said. “About 10 years ago, we had some problems in Venezuela. There were a lot of people outside the country who were on scholarships funded by the (Venezuelan) government. The support was stopped from the government and a lot of people were left hanging.
“That’s when we decided we needed to start doing the scholarships. That’s how we started. We wanted to do something different.”
In 2017, Cabrera brought the scholarship endowments to the United States. The Cabrera Family Scholarship endowment annually awards two renewable college scholarships to first generation college students in Michigan and south Florida.
The foundation has helped revitalize the baseball field in the Clark Park neighborhood in Detroit and provided grants locally and abroad, including scholarships for the Miracle League of Michigan.
“He has been the heart and soul of every team he’s been on in Detroit,” manager AJ Hinch said. “He represents so much about what is right — not just in how he plays, but also how he’s passing the torch to the younger players and how he’s been so influential in the community.
“For him to be recognized for this is perfect.”
Cabrera, who is on the injured list with a biceps strain, said he was feeling better. He would be eligible to come off the IL next week.
Around the horn
Right-hander Beau Brieske (forearm soreness) threw a bullpen before the game Saturday. He is scheduled to throw a live bullpen (facing hitters) sometime during the homestand next week.
The hope, Hinch said, is that he can pitch competitively before the end of the season — either in Triple-A or with the Tigers.
“It’s going to be a photo finish with that,” Hinch said.
… In the 10-2 win Friday night, four rookies — Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson, Kerry Carpenter and Ryan Kreidler — had multiple hits. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time since Sept. 29, 1963 that at least four Tigers rookies had multiple hits in a game — Gates Brown, Bill Freehan, Willie Horton and Don Wert.
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Twitter: @cmccosky
Tigers at Royals
First pitch: 2:10 p.m. Sunday, Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri
TV/radio: BSD/97.1
SCOUTING REPORT
LHP Tyler Alexander (3-9, 5.23), Tigers: Things have gone sideways on him recently. In his last three starts he’s allowed 15 earned runs and 22 hits in 12 innings, including six home runs with an OPS against of 1.207. In his last start in Anaheim, seven balls were hit with exit velocities of 100 mph or more, including homers by Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout.
RHP Brady Singer (7-4, 3.38), Royals: He’s been hit hard in his last two starts (.391/.420/.565), giving up seven earned runs in 10⅔ innings. But he’s never lost in nine starts against the Tigers, posting a 2.59 ERA with 51 strikeouts, the most against any team he’s faced.