There was a very special guy at the Major League Baseball All-Star game on Tuesday, and we join the rest of the nation in tipping our hat to him.

No, not that guy. The other one.

Sure, everybody and his brother got in on the hat-tipping fest in honor of retiring baseball great Derek Jeter, and there’s probably nobody in baseball today more deserving of such a glowing sendoff.

But the special guy we’re referring to is only 10, and he’s from right here in Suffolk. During All-Star week in Minneapolis, he’s been giving Peanut City some great national exposure as one of three national finalists in the boys’ 9- and 10-year-old division of MLB’s Pitch, Hit and Run contest.

To reach the finals, Clay Grady had to advance through three levels of the program. Local and sectional events were held throughout the country. This spring, Clay stood out locally in a Suffolk-based event and moved through sectionals at Harbor Park in Norfolk. Each MLB team then hosted the team championship level, and Clay went to the park of the team nearest Suffolk, the Washington Nationals, where he put up stellar marks. Those results sent him to Minnesota, where the finals were held on Monday.

Though he didn’t take first place, Clay can stand tall knowing he’s among the elite participants in the contest from around the nation.

He can stand even taller in the memory of all the great baseball-related stuff he got to do while in Minneapolis. From shagging balls during MLB’s nationally televised Home Run Derby to standing on the field with some of the best professional baseball players of all time to watching the All-Star game from the stadium, the week was full of great memories.

“It’s been amazing,” Clay’s mother, Tracy Grady, said on Monday. “Just to see your 10-year-old out on the same field as some of the best players in baseball is pretty cool, and he’s having a ton of fun, which is really neat.”

We tip our hats to Clay’s aspiring talent and wish him a truly all-star future.