Hendrik Clementina

Hendrik Jesus Clementina

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 250 lb.

• Born June 17, 1997 in Willemstad Netherlands Antilles

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Biographical Information

Hendrik Clementina has played in the minors and for the Dutch national team.

He was originally signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers and hit .275/.314/.379 for the 2014 DSL Dodgers. The backstop moved up to the AZL Dodgers in 2015 and batted .284/.348/.346. Splitting time between 1B and C in 2016, he slumped to .217/.286/.369 in a return engagement with the team, but did hit 6 homers in 157 AB. After a strong start with the 2017 Ogden Raptors (.370/.439/.554, 25 RBI in 24 G, .996 FLD& at C), he was dealt with Scott Van Slyke to the Cincinnati Reds for Tony Cingrani.

Clementina slipped to .240/.302/.365 for the Billings Mustangs after the deal. He and Luis Paz were named the Pioneer League's All-Star catchers. He spent 2018 with the Dayton Dragons, hammering 18 homers and hitting .268/.327/.497. He tied Ariel Sandoval for 5th in the Midwest League in home runs and he would have been 3rd in slugging had he qualified. He was named the MWL All-Star DH (Ronaldo Hernández was picked at catcher). Among Reds farmhands, he was 4th in dingers, between Gabriel Guerrero and D.J. Peterson.

The 250-pounder kept pounding the ball in 2019, hitting .249/.296/.411 with 14 HR in 338 AB for the Daytona Tortugas. He was 7th in the pitcher-friendly Florida State League in long balls. He then made the Dutch team for the 2019 European Championship. He started at catcher ahead of Sicnarf Loopstok and Dashenko Ricardo and hit .421/.476/.895 with 3 homers and 7 runs in 6 games, handling 46 chances error-free, entering the final day (which did not count for statistical leaderboards). He singled off Jakob Claesson in his first at-bat for the Netherlands. He went deep off Dean Pelman and twice against Artuur Driessens. He was 9th in event (between Jordan Serena and Calten Daal), 3rd in slugging (behind MVP Ademar Rifaela and Moritz Scheicher) and tied for 5th in homers. Despite that, he sat out the Gold Medal Game win over Italy, Ricardo being behind the dish.

He was back starting for the Netherlands in the 2019 Europe/Africa Olympic Qualifier, producing at a .333/.500/.500 clip; they just missed out on qualifying by losing to Israel (both teams finished 4-1). He had their lone run against Israel, doubling off Jon Moscot and scoring on a Kalian Sams two-bagger. He tied for the event lead with two doubles, tied Danny Valencia for 2nd in OBP (behind Petr Čech), was 5th in slugging and was 5th in OPS. He was a C/DH in the 2019 Premier 12, with Chadwick Tromp getting two of the three starts behind the plate. His single off Cody Ponce was their first hit of the tournament (and one of only two the team got against Team USA) but he was 1 for 7 after that.