Ernie Clement Is an Overlooked Hero on the Blue Jays

Originally brought to the Toronto Blue Jays via minor league contract back in March of 2023, Ernie Clement has quietly been one of the more valuable players on this team for a while now.

It’s time to pay your respects.

No, Clement isn’t going to contest Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for the team lead in home runs, he’s not going to out-steal Andres Gimenez, and he’s going to have a tough time dethroning Alejandro Kirk as the best looking player on the team.

Instead, he brings a different skillset to the table for the Blue Jays; one that’s kept him in the starting lineup on a consistent basis from the end of August, 2023, to now.

For one, he’s the ultimate vibes guy. He plays the game with a looseness that is infectious. He’s emerging as a leader in a Blue Jays clubhouse who’s got a ton of players that get written off both by fans and other teams.

Nathan Lukes, Gimenez, Myles Straw, and Tyler Heineman were all viewed as expendable by other teams. Clement is in the exact same boat, as the Cleveland Guardians and the (then) Oakland Athletics both gave up on him before he found his stride at the big league level. He fits this specific mold of player well.

The man never walks or strikes out. He hits for a ton of contact and plays some of the best defense in the American League at multiple positions around the infield. Clement plays a unique brand of baseball, but that’s helped him become one of the AL’s most valuable infielders. He’s bound to start getting the attention he deserves at some point, but for now it’s crickets.

Let’s take a closer look at what he’s doing this year and break down all of the ways his value helps the Blue Jays.

Ernie Clement Helps the Blue Jays In Multiple Ways

Since Clement was brought aboard by the Blue Jays, the organization has trotted Matt Chapman, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Guerrero, Addison Barger, Santiago Espinal, Luis De Los Santos, Cavan Biggio, and Will Wagner out at Clement’s primary position: third base.

Few, if any, of those names have provided the amount of value that Clement has, which is pretty astounding seeing as how the man has a total of four home runs this year.

Clement, who is surprisingly already 29, does not hit for much power – he hit 12 home runs last year which could very well be his career-high by the time he hangs it up – but he makes up for that in other ways.

Through his first 76 games this season, Clement has four homers with 19 runs driven in, 35 more scored, a .310 batting average and an OPS of .770. Despite the fact that he’s hitting over .300, his OBP somehow stands at just .342.

This is nearly 100% due to the fact that Clement never draws walks. He’s in the 11th percentile in BB% this season, but he’s also in the 92nd percentile in Whiff% and 95th in K%. He’s got one of the sharpest eyes in the game at the plate, and knows exactly when to swing at pitches and how to make contact on them.

Amongst all qualifying hitters over the past 30 days, Clement is fifth in the game in average (.380), 21st in wRC+ (169) and tied for fourth in fWAR (1.7). While he’s certainly showing out offensively this year, it’s his performance against left-handed pitching that really deserves a closer look.

Southpaw Dominance

It is mind-boggling to see what Clement has done against lefties to start the new year. In many respects, he’s one of the best hitters in all of baseball against southpaws. That feels like a huge label to slap such a light-hitting utilityman with, but the numbers back it up.

Entering Wednesday’s action, Clement is hitting .430 against left-handers, which is the best amongst qualifying hitters. In fact, his average is 22 points higher than Paul Goldschmidt, who’s second best and is hitting .408. Clement’s OBP is .471 against lefties (third in MLB), and he’s also third in SLG (.722).

Clement’s 236 wRC+ is second-best in baseball as well, only behind Goldschmidt’s teammate in the Bronx, Aaron Judge.

We’ve already established that Clement is not a power hitter, but he’s hit all four of his home runs against lefties and he’s 10th in the league in ISO at .291. He got the start in Tuesday night’s game against the Guardians and recorded an RBI double against a left-hander in the first inning.

No matter which way you slice it, Clement has been immensely valuable on both sides of the plate, but his offensive stroke is his second-best trait.

Defensive Brilliance

So much of Clement’s fWAR comes from his defensive play. This falls right in line with the organizational philosophy the Blue Jays have employed going back a few years now.

The team got rid of Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez, two of their big boppers, and replaced them with Kevin Kiermaier and Daulton Varsho out in the outfield grass. Since then, there’s been a pretty significant shift to a defense-over-offense approach.

The club has softened on that a tiny bit this year, but they still have Varsho, Gimenez, Kirk, and Clement (four elite defenders) occupying spots in their everyday starting-nine.

Entering Wednesday’s action, Clement resides in the 99th percentile in Outs Above Average. He’s got less OAA than only two players in the league and has been an above-average asset at all four infield spots this season.

This year, Clement has played more second and third base than anything else, and he’s fifth in OAA amongst qualifying second basemen and second amongst qualifying defenders at the hot corner.

By Fielding Run Value (Statcast’s metric used to measure a player’s overall defensive contributions), Clement is currently the 12th-best defender in all of baseball. That might not sound that impressive, but he’s behind Kirk, Denzel Clarke, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Fernando Tatis Jr., amongst others. That’s some pretty elite company.

Clement’s got the positional versatility that every manager in the game wants on his team. There are way too many “utility players” around the league who are able to take up space at a bunch of different positions, but there are not many who can play at a high level at multiple spots quite like he can.

Put some respect on his name, will you?