Ernie Clement

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Ernie James Clement

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Biographical Information[edit]

Ernie Clement was a member of the University of Virginia team that won the 2015 College World Series. He was MVP of the Cape Cod League in 2016. He was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 4th round of the 2017 amateur draft.

On June 27, 2021, barely two weeks after his major league debut with Cleveland, he was involved in a violent collision with OF Josh Naylor in which the outfielder dislocated his ankle, putting him out for the remainder of the season. He was playing 2B that day, and Naylor was the team's second best hitter after All-Star José Ramírez, so the loss was a big blow to the team. He batted .231 in 40 games, with 3 homers and 9 RBIs, for an OPS+ of 71. He mostly played second and third base. In 2022, with the re-named Cleveland Guardians, he was the prototypical utility player, seeing time in the outfield and at first base in addition to his usual infield work, while also serving as the team's emergency catcher. On June 27th, he was called upon to pitch for the first time, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits in one inning of mop-up work in an 11-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins. During that appearance, he used a knuckleball in addition to a mediocre fastball, making it one of a very small number of times the specialty pitch was used in a game that season, given that there were no longer any actual major league pitchers who used the pitch as part of their repertoire. As the season was winding down and Cleveland was preparing for a postseason appearance, he was placed on waivers in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster and was claimed by the last-place Oakland Athletics on September 23rd. After 63 games with Cleveland, he finished with another 6 with Oakland. His final line was .184 with no homers and 6 RBIs in 69 games.

By this point, it seemed that Clement had established a profile as a good field, no hit player whose main value was the ability to play multiple position. Major league team are often on the look-out for such players, but usually only to fill a short-term hole. The rebuilding A's did not see a need for his profile and a couple of weeks into spring training handed him his release, but on March 14, 2023, he was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays in a move that was seen as simply giving the team some organizational depth. But, lo and behold, Clement had worked hard on reshaping his swing and his approach at the plate during the off-season, and it paid immediate dividends. With the AAA Buffalo Bisons, he hit a scorching .348/.401/.544 in 72 games, blasting 21 doubles and 11 homers. He vaulted past Otto Lopez on the depth chart and was called up to Toronto a few times during the season. While at first he did not play much, he took advantage of all of his at-bats as he was hitting .429 in 8 games - but just 7 at-bats - at the end of June. His real chance came in late August when SS Bo Bichette got hurt and waiver-wire Paul DeJong proved unable to get a hit. Clement got a chance to start in Bo's place, and he continued to hit. He ended the season at .380 with 1 homer and 10 RBIs in 29 games. One thing that set him apart was his extremely high contact rate: in 52 plate appearances for Toronto, he had drawn only one walk, but had also struck out only four times.

In spring training in 2024, he continued to show a lively bat, to the point that the Blue Jays had to chose between him and established veteran Santiago Espinal, who had been an All-Star only two years earlier, and chose to keep him on the roster. On April 5th, he hit a dramatic homer run when called in as a pinch-hitter for Cavan Biggio after the New York Yankees had brought in lefty reliever Caleb Ferguson in the 7th inning of a scoreless game. Clement immediately took him deep to left field for the first pinch homer of his career. The Jays then added two late runs, both scoring on wild pitches, to win the game, 3-0, but it was clearly Clement's blow that had been the turning point at the time when the offense was sputtering badly.

Further Reading[edit]

  • Nick Ashbourne: "Blue Jays' fill-in shortstop Ernie Clement might be MLB's weirdest hitter: How good Ernie Clement can be at the MLB level is up for debate, but it's clear he has an unusual skill set.", Yahoo! Sports, September 7, 2023. [1]
  • Mandy Bell: "Catcher turned third baseman turned knuckleballer ... in one day", mlb.com, June 28, 2022. [2]
  • Keegan Matheson: "Clement's clutch blast keeps Blue Jays grinding out wins", mlb.com, April 5, 2024. [3]

Related Sites[edit]

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