CLEVELAND — Pitchers Shane Bieber, Brand Hand and Nick Wittgren, along with left fielder Jake Bauers, will serve as ambassadors for the Cleveland Indians as they help to provide over four million meals to children in the “Home Plate Project” initiative.
The league-wide initiative includes all 30 Major League Baseball teams and over 50 players who have all teamed up with Garth Brooks’ “Teammates for Kids Foundation” and “Big League Impact” organizations to distribute food to children in need.
The Home Plate Project has raised nearly $1 million, which will provide more than four million meals to children dealing with food insecurity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With schools shut down and more than 20 million students in the United States and Canada relying on free or reduced-price meals from their schools, MLB players came together to raise money and ensure children don’t have to go hungry.
The Home Plate Project, founded by St. Louis Cardinals pitches Adam Wainwright, was set to launch its second year this fall, but faced with the urgency of children in need of food due to the pandemic, the initiative assembled a last-minute call for help.
With little time to prepare or organize, the players, including Bieber, Hand, Wittgren and Bauers, have been able to raise $937,100.
Former Indians catcher Yan Gomes was also involved in the initiative.
Here is the full list of player ambassadors for each MLB club:
ARI: Luke Weaver
ATL: Mark Melancon
BAL: Chris Davis
BOS: Nate Eovaldi, Mitch Moreland
CHC: Daniel Descalso, Steven Souza Jr.
CWS: Steve Cishek
CIN: Sonny Gray, Michael Lorenzen
CLE: Brad Hand, Shane Bieber, Nick Wittgren, Jake Bauers
COL: Daniel Murphy, Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story
DET: Matthew Boyd, Ron Gardenhire
HOU: Justin Verlander
KC: Ian Kennedy, Trevor Rosenthal
LAA: Albert Pujols, Jason Castro
LAD: Clayton Kershaw
MIA: Corey Dickerson, Sean Rodriguez
MIL: Brent Suter
MIN: Marwin Gonzalez
NYM: Steven Matz, Michael Wacha
NYY: DJ LeMahieu, Brett Gardner
OAK: Stephen Piscotty
PHI: Aaron Nola, Neil Walker
PIT: Trevor Williams
SD: Brian Dozier, Tommy Pham
SEA: Marco Gonzales
SF: Hunter Pence
STL: Paul Goldschmidt, Adam Wainwright
TB: Charlie Morton, Joey Wendle
TEX: Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, Elvis Andrus, Robinson Chirinos
TOR: Chase Anderson, Randal Grichuk
WSH: Yan Gomes
