Ernie Clement Is Fading at the Worst Time for the Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays are fighting for a chance at playing in the 2026 postseason and all their stars and newly-acquired players have been performing well down the stretch to help them reach that goal. However, there are certainly some spots in Toronto’s lineup, rotation, and bullpen where the production has been lacking in a major way.

Following the 2025 postseason, no Blue Jays fan would have ever predicted that one of their least valuable players over a large sample size of the ensuing season would be Ernie Clement. Fresh off setting the single-season postseason hit record with 30 base hits in the playoffs, Clement got off to a hot start and made his first All-Star team but has failed to keep up his strong play in the second half.

The Blue Jays need their big performers to come up bigger than ever down the stretch, and Clement has had his worst stretch since joining the organization. Obviously the expectations for Clement aren’t to lead the lead in hits or put up insane record-setting numbers, but it’s simply been disappointing to see the lack of any offensive production from his bat as of late.

Ernie clearly has all the skills to be one of the most successful hitters in the league, but he’s in the midst of a massive rough patch that the Jays need to end as soon as possible.

First-Time All-Star

Clement was voted by fans to represent the Blue Jays at the 2026 All-Star Game in Philadelphia, marking his first individual honour or award of his big-league career. As a long-time utility player and having to consistently fight for roster spots in Cleveland, Oakland, and in his first portion of games in Toronto, Clement proved that his 2025 postseason wasn’t necessarily a fluke and that he’s one of the AL’s top infielders.

In the first half, Clement slashed .296/.318/.433 while leading the American League with 23 doubles and having the third-most hits among AL hitters (106). Among qualified Blue Jays hitters, his 109 wRC+ was second-best on the team behind Kazuma Okamoto and his minuscule 9.4% strikeout rate led his teammates by a wide margin.

Only six AL hitters had more multi-hit games in the first-half than Clement’s total of 28, and he was consistently slotted at the top of Toronto’s lineup and posed a serious threat at the plate every time he stepped up to the dish. At the All-Star break, the Jays stood six games under .500 with a 45-51 record, but their struggles in the early portion of the year could largely be chalked up to a boatload of injuries to key players.

Clement’s archetype is a scrappy hitter who makes consistent contact and can play a variety of infield positions, and he played that role perfectly through the All-Star break. However, his performance didn’t carry over through the remainder of the season.

Recent Struggles

The second half posed many problems for the Blue Jays, who were not only scrambling to put together a playoff-ready roster, but also trying desperately to get their best players hitting well again. Their top hitters like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer, and Alejandro Kirk (who was injured) weren’t producing nearly as well as Toronto needed them to, and Clement’s bat was looking like a beacon of hope at the halfway point of the year.

Part two of the 2026 season kicked Clement hard, however, and he’s been one of the worst hitters in baseball over this span – and that’s no exaggeration. Among qualified hitters in the second half, Clement’s paltry .526 OPS is the worst mark among all AL batters and only beats out Brandon Marsh’s .479 mark. Clement’s 46 wRC+ isn’t just a poor performance, it’s downright unplayable.

Clement had 23 doubles and eight home runs in the first half, but has only had nine total extra-base hits in the second half. Not only has his bat fallen off as of late, but his all-around game has taken a hit as well. Whereas last season Clement had a 15 OAA (Outs Above Average) and a +10 FRV (Fielding Run Value) and ranked in the top ten percent of hitters last season, in 2026 he has posted marks of -5 OAA and -3 FRV.

If Clement was performing on pace with his first half for the entirety of the 2026 season, who knows how much it would have benefited the Blue Jays. He’s certainly come up in big situations with clutch hits at times, but Toronto needs him to be Ernie Clement more consistently instead of a black hole in their lineup.

Toronto Desperately Needs Clement’s Bat

It’s become clear over recent years that Clement isn’t a bad hitter, and he’s more than capable of having some of the peskiest at-bats a pitcher can deal with on any given day. As completely valid as the Blue Jays are to trot him out there in their everyday lineup, they’re desperately hoping that he can find himself at the plate as soon as possible.

With just ten games remaining on the schedule and the Blue Jays sitting a game-and-half back of the Cleveland Guardians for the final AL wild-card spot, season numbers can be thrown out of the window if struggling players can come up large in these crucial games.

Toronto has a team wRC+ of just 95 this season, tied for 22nd in MLB (Mets, Cardinals, Guardians), and their offense has been in serious need of a spark. Other power bats like Okamoto and Guerrero have provided the team with some moments but Clement hasn’t had a truly impactful offensive moment in quite some time.

Clement’s consistency is what makes him a tough out and a great hitter, but without any amount of routine hits and success at the plate he’s hardly produced at all offensively. It’s bizarre to think of the polar difference between his postseason dominance last season and his poor second half this year, but there’s still time for him to be the saviour that the Blue Jays need right now.

Closing Thoughts

The Toronto Blue Jays are fighting for their playoff lives and they need all the help they can get as they push towards the postseason. While other star players on their roster have largely underperformed expectations this season, Ernie Clement’s second half struggles have been the most extreme example of a great player going through a long slump.

Guerrero’s home run deficiency can be overlooked if he helps power Toronto into the playoffs, Max Scherzer’s poor performance in the rotation can be forgiven if he can lead the team to some key wins, and Clement’s unforeseeable struggles in the second-half can certainly be pardoned if he can give fans some big moments to cheer for over the next week and beyond.

Perhaps getting Clement another dose of October baseball could re-energize him to find himself offensively, and the Jays are trying to make that happen with all their might. With their season on the line and their need to win as many games as possible down the stretch, he needs to get back to some semblance of his standard production at the plate if Toronto is to make the playoffs, let alone do anything in them.