TORONTO -- Asked about his earliest memory of Rogers Center ahead of his first big league game in his home country on Thursday, Denzel Clarke immediately recalled a late September 2006 game against Tampa Bay he attended as a 6-year-old.
“We were sitting right up there,” Clarke said, pointing to Section 242 in left field below the sign honoring Blue Jays legend Carlos Delgado. “I remember being with some family friends. We were actually about to leave. All I remember is Aaron Hill hit a walk-off home run. … It almost came and hit us. That was very memorable.”
Nearly two decades later, in what felt like a bit of divine intervention, Clarke crushed his first Major League home run in the same direction as the one forever ingrained in his memory bank.
Facing Blue Jays right-hander Braydon Fisher, the Athletics’ No. 5 prospect belted a first-pitch fastball into the second deck of seats beyond left field, only a few sections away from where that homer by Hill landed nearly 19 years earlier.
“I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit,” Clarke said. “I was ready for that fastball. … Looking back on it now, I guess it was hit to a similar spot. Cool coincidence there.”
Clarke’s go-ahead two-run blast in the second inning of Saturday’s 8-7 loss to the Blue Jays continued what has truly been a dream homecoming this weekend. On Friday night the Toronto native wowed his hometown fans by scaling the center-field wall for an incredible home run robbery, and later notched his first Major League RBI with a single in the ninth.
“It’s been awesome playing at home in front of family and friends again,” said Clarke, who estimates that there will between 150 and 200 friends and family members in attendance over this four-game series. “Not many people can say they’ve gotten to do that. I’m super blessed and super grateful to be in this position.”
Although Gold Glove-caliber defense is what helped Clarke get to the big leagues this season, his impressive raw power is something the A’s player development staff has raved about since the day he was drafted in 2021.
He certainly displayed that on his first big fly, barreling it up at an exit velocity of 106.5 mph and sending it a Statcast-projected 406 feet for a no-doubter that would have gone out in all 30 Major League ballparks.
“That’s the area we’re talking about with Clarke,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “We’re continuing to work on the mechanics of the swing. Today you saw him get ready and be on time to a pitch. He stayed down into his legs, and that creates the elevation. Great swing.”
Listed at 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, Clarke is a physical specimen that Ed Sprague, director of player development, has not been shy about comparing with Bo Jackson -- another “freak athlete” of yesteryear -- on multiple occasions.
Sprague also cautioned, however, that with such a large body and long limbs often comes mechanical issues at the plate, especially for someone like Clarke, a late bloomer who did not start playing baseball until around the age of 10.
“He’s up and down, which is not out of the norm for big guys like that,” Sprague said during Spring Training. “You see guys like [Aaron] Judge and Giancarlo [Stanton] that are super-human athletes, they’re going to have hot and cold streaks just because it’s hard to sync up those big body parts. But when Denzel hits it, it’s electric.”
Clarke certainly brought the electricity on Saturday’s big swing, carrying over an encouraging two-hit performance from Friday night after he began his big league career 1-for-19.
“I’m just learning to use my body and coordinate things,” Clarke said. “Once I coordinate, I’ll be able to see my power numbers go up. I’m just thinking about putting good swings on the baseball and hitting stuff hard.”
The high note to end Clarke’s first month in the big leagues ended an overall frustrating month for the A’s, who have now lost 16 of their last 17 games. On Saturday the offense broke out with homers by Clarke, Tyler Soderstrom and Brent Rooker, leading to a ninth-inning rally that fell just short as a potential game-tying hit by Shea Langeliers was snagged by a diving Ernie Clement up the middle to end the game.