Ernie Clement add-on RBIs in sixth prove vital in vital 6-5 win

Blue Jays split key series vs. powerful Orioles

On Thursday at Rogers Centre, third baseman Ernie Clement was a Blue Jays hero, if just for one day. Baseball is an everyday game and all that could change, without notice. The one certainty is the 28-year-old with 441 career at-bats in parts of four major-league season, with three organizations, will be happy wherever he is.

Clement was asked recently what role he would prefer, either being in the major leagues as a bench player, or else getting his 500 at-bats playing every day in the minors. I have always believed players would rather the MLB bench, but to my surprise, Clement said he would rather play every day in the minors. He has loftier goals than coming off the bench to start twice a week. He feels he will play every day.   

Why would every player not prefer the big-league bench role. There’s the huge salary gap between MLB minimum ($740,000+) and the average minor-league salary. There’s the MLB lifestyle, flying on team charters, staying at 5-star hotels, handed daily, major-league meal money. There’s an accumulation of service time leading to arbitration, free-agency and a sweet, post-career pension. Plus, it’s The Show.

But here’s the Blue Jays reality for Clement, selected originally by Cleveland in the fourth round of the June 2017 draft out of University of Virginia. Understand that on 30 MLB team rosters are 13 position players and 13 pitchers. It’s easy to believe that on this Jays roster, based on early usage and production, Clement ranks 13^th.

It’s therefore not a giant leap of faith to believe that if the Jays, sooner or later, were to roll the dice in an effort to add offence to a largely moribund lineup, to make a move to promote someone like Triple-A first-baseman Spencer Horwitz, or someone else, that the first name that will be discussed in clearing 26-man roster space, barring injury to others, would be the likeable infielder, Clement.

He is most certainly aware of his precarious status moving forward, so given that reality, one would then assume the righthanded hitting Rochester (NY) native must be placing significant pressure on himself to make the most of each and every game and each and every plate appearance.

However, it turns out he is at peace with the fact that all he can control is his effort and that effort is always there. The results and the subsequent stat line are beyond his control. But bottom line is he is ready for whatever awaits.   

On Thursday in a 6-5 win over the Orioles, batting ninth, making just his second start at third base since May 26, Clement contributed big-time to a key win. Facing righthander Dillon Tate, in the sixth inning, Clement pulled a two-run single into left field for a couple of precious add-on runs, a commodity manager John Schneider takes as much pleasure in as in finding a $20 bill in his jacket pocket while dropping off at the dry cleaner.

A ninth inning two-run homer by Adley Rutschman vs. closer Yimi Garcia cut the Jays lead to one. So it turns out the important winning run was the second Clement add-on RBI. The win gave them a key split of the four-game series vs. the O’s. For a fanbase ready to light up tiki torches, it may have been a bigger win than for the clubhouse.

Still, Clement’s roster spot remains in jeopardy. Here is the possible scenario. With no minor-league options left, Clement would have to be DFA’d, exposed to waivers. If he was selected by another team, he could remain in the major leagues. If he cleared waivers and was sent to Buffalo, he could play every day and when the moment arrived, he would be clear to return to the Jays given an open 40-man roster spot.

Judging from his earlier comments, Clement is the rare athlete who would adjust in a heartbeat. His attitude defines win-win.

Clement on Robo-Umps

 Clement is one of those young AAA-Bisons players who was called up late in 2023 and helped turn the season around on a run to the wildcard. What was noticeable about that group last season and again in the first two months of the current schedule, is the solid awareness of the strike zone, the result of working with the automatic robo-ump pitch decisions that has been part of minor-league baseball the past several years. Clement finds the zone more consistent than adjusting to human opinion on balls and strikes that he has encountered in the majors.

“Yeah, it goes both ways,” Clement said of any advantage of not dealing with the humans until promoted to the majors. “It was a really tight zone down there, so you learn to hone in and the guys have to throw strikes. They have to come into the zone.

“(Pitchers) are not going to get away with just nibbling around the zone. There’s a lot more pitches to hit and you learn quickly what pitches you can handle. You learn to keyhole those guys and make sure that they come into the middle of the zone.”

Clement was asked about the fact that for his first three years as a pro, there were bad umpires working the pre-automatic strike zones and that could easily create bad hitting habits. It’s why they were still in those lower minor leagues. It’s all changed.

“You don’t have to chase at all,” Clement said. “It can go both ways. I’m an aggressive hitter. I don’t like to leave it up to the umpire. Especially with two strikes. I like to at least get one in play. Then there are guys like Davis Schneider who have such great ideas of the strike zone, an idea of who they are as a hitter. It helps guys like that a lot. His walk rates are way up. He does a lot of damage on pitches in the middle of the zone. He just doesn’t chase those pitches on the edges. I think (automated strike zone) really helped a lot of guys.”

Lost 2020 COVID season helped Clement as a player

In the spring of 2020, after three season in Cleveland’s minor-league system, he was around his first major-league spring training in Arizona, when all of a sudden, in early March, the pandemic hit and the industry was shut down. There were no minor-league games played, but every team had what was called an “alternate site”, where top prospects reported and trained, taking advantage of intense hands-on instruction and days filled with reps in fielding, hitting and intra-squad games. Clement loved it.

“Honestly, I was excited,” Clement said. “I knew that if I was there, at least I was going to be with the organization, with my teammates who were also invited. That at least I had a shot of getting called up (to the majors) from there because they had eyes on me and watched me. We got to report to Cleveland originally (for summer camp), so that was fun. That was my first time at Progressive Field.”

Clement found that you got as much out of it as you put in. He was surrounded by a mix of player attitudes, but too many of the older prospects felt they were being robbed of one year of their short careers.

“Oh my God, I was out there taking hours of groundballs every single day,” Clement recalled. “No games, so we just got as much work as we wanted. You got exactly what you put into it, so there were plenty of guys who thought they should have been in the big leagues, or were a little older and didn’t exactly want to be at that alternate site so myself and a couple of the other younger guys that were there were fortunate to get that invite. We grinded. We worked every day for hours and hours. So that’s where I became a really good defender and then my offence took off as well.”

With the Blue Jays since March 2023

After stints with Cleveland and Oakland in 2021-22, Clement signed with the Blue Jays bringing with him a positive attitude that we have all witnessed. With a mature attitude on what it takes, he has now earned a spot with the big-league Jays and is surrounded by players that he views as friends.

“I think it’s a testament to the culture in the organization as a whole,” he opined. “When I came in last year, right away I messed with the guys and they were all very welcoming. If you’re treated the same in Triple-A as you’re treated here, it’s no different. You’re playing the same game. All these guys in here want to win.

“In Triple-A, if you treat it like, well, you’re not in the big leagues, like you shouldn’t be (in the minors), then you’re not going to get out of it as much as you should. They’ve done a really good job of teaching (here), to just be where your feet are and enjoy that you get to play baseball every single day, no matter where you are, whether you’re in Triple-A or here.”

It seems obvious Ernie Clement is going to be alright no matter what direction his career takes.