DETROIT (WOOD) — Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera has volunteered to serve as a co-chair of the Protect Michigan Commission to help promote COVID-19 vaccination efforts in Michigan.

“We are grateful that ‘Miggy’ is stepping up to the plate to help inform Michiganders on the importance of getting their COVID-19 vaccinations,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer stated in a Wednesday press release announcing that she was appointing him to the commission. “We appreciate the tremendous support and advocacy from the Detroit Tigers because this is an all-hands-on-deck moment in our state’s effort to persevere and overcome the pandemic.” 

The governor’s office explained that Cabrera, an 11-time MLB All-Star, and the Tigers will help produce public service announcements in English and Spanish. The PSAs will urge Michiganders to get vaccinated and continue mitigation protocols to slow the spread of the virus.

“I am honored by Gov. Whitmer’s appointment as a co-chair of the Protect Michigan Commission and look forward to using my platform to increase awareness of how getting vaccinated can help slow COVID-19 infections,” Cabrera said in a statement. “Based on what I know from getting vaccinated already, the shots are nowhere near as bad as the virus. Our goal with the Commission is to get as many people vaccinated as possible, and I hope my support toward that end is successful.” 

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the state’s chief medical executive, are heading up the Protect Michigan Commission, along with former Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, a Republican who now runs the Small Business Dissociation of Michigan; Spectrum Health President and CEO Tina Freese Decker; Jamie Brown of the Michigan Nurses Association; and Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha of Michigan State University and the Hurley Children’s Hospital, who helped bring attention to the Flint water crisis.

Blake Griffin was a co-chair of the commission before being traded away from the Detroit Pistons.

Nearly 6.7 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Michigan. Nearly 49% of the state’s population over the age of 16 has received at least one shot and nearly 36% of that population has finished their doses. The goal is to reach 70%.

Whitmer will get her second dose of the vaccine at the West Michigan Vaccine Clinic at DeVos Place in downtown Grand Rapids on Thursday afternoon.