TORONTO -- What’s gotten into Ernie Clement?
Coming home from the Blue Jays’ rough road trip through Tampa and Texas, Clement’s OPS was flirting with the wrong side of .600, but then the A’s came to town. Clement is making them wish they hadn’t.
Clement homered again in Friday night’s 11-7 win at Rogers Centre, part of a four-hit night, but let’s rewind 24 hours. In Thursday’s opener, Clement homered early in Toronto’s eight-run second inning and came back to the plate later in that same frame with the bases loaded. Maybe Clement was supposed to say that he was trying to put the ball in play to keep the line moving, but boring answers don’t fit him.
“I was trying to hit a homer, honestly,” Clement said. “Two homers in an inning with a bunch of RBIs would have been pretty fun.”
This brings us back to Friday. Manager John Schneider could only smile and shake his head when he heard this, still having some fun with Clement’s clunky attempt at Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s signature shuffle and skip in his home run trot. Besides, Clement still drove home two more runs with a double in that second-inning at-bat, giving him five RBIs in the frame. If it’s working, why change?
“Homers with Ernie happen when he’s taking aggressive swings,” Schneider said, then paused and chuckled. “Maybe try to hit a homer every time? I don’t know, maybe that’s Ernie’s new thing.”
So far, so good. Clement’s home runs in back-to-back games give him just three on the season, and while he’s never going to be confused for a slugger, he still possesses an important type of upside that this Blue Jays lineup needs, even if they thought they’d be getting it from somewhere else this season. Clement has suddenly rebranded as this lineup’s lefty-masher, absolutely pummeling pitchers from the left side.
Clement is batting .388 with a 1.160 OPS against lefties this season, and while he’s always fared a little better against that side, this is nowhere near normal for him. His numbers against righties have dragged all of this down, of course, but his dominance against the other side of the platoon can fill an important hole for the Blue Jays, perhaps one they’d hoped earlier in the season would be filled by Davis Schneider as a platoon ace.
“It’s definitely nice to have that option, and he’s handled them well, I feel like even going back to last year, too,” John Schneider said. “It’s nice to have someone to -- I don’t want to say neutralize lefties, but someone who has a fair bit of success against them. He’s been really good the last couple of weeks and he has a great approach against lefties.
“He’s a power hitter now, so I guess I’ll tell him to hit a homer every time. He’s been pretty locked in for a while, but as long as we’ve had him, he’s been good against lefties.”
The difference, of course, is that Clement’s defense and versatility make him playable -- and valuable -- even in tougher matchups. Clement came into play Friday with a plus-8 Fielding Run Value, tying him for second in all of Major League Baseball behind only Pete Crow-Armstrong. This isn’t just good defense, it’s elite.
Now, Clement just needs to fill in the gaps. He rarely strikes out and rarely walks, but he hasn’t been driving the ball consistently enough until this series. Perhaps this is Clement counterpunching, making the adjustment back.
“I don’t think I’ve gotten as many pitches to drive,” Clement said. “My bread and butter last year was ambushing them and catching them by surprise on that first pitch. I just haven’t gotten that first pitch in the middle of the zone. Teams kind of know that I’m aggressive, and I’ve had to reel it back a bit, but those pitches are going to come and I’ve got to be ready for them.”
This only helps to lengthen the lineup, too, which is extremely valuable while the Blue Jays wait for the return of Anthony Santander, who hit the IL Friday with left shoulder inflammation. Below Clement in the lineup, Myles Straw and Nathan Lukes had two hits apiece and Addison Barger launched a rocket into the right-field bleachers for his third home run of the season.
As long as Clement is doing this to left-handed pitching, though, there’s a spot in the lineup for him, and nights like Friday show that in the right situations, he can change this team’s ceiling, not just its floor.