This story was excerpted from Keegan Matheson's Blue Jays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
TORONTO -- Two weeks ago, Ernie Clement was looking for answers in bat bags.
The Blue Jays were on the road and Clement was struggling, so he walked up and down the line of waist-high bags at Yankee Stadium one day, unzipping a few he thought may contain what he’s been looking for.
Clement tried out Alejandro Kirk’s bats, flicking his wrists to feel their weight, then peeked at Bo Bichette’s and a few others. Eventually, he grabbed one of Will Wagner’s, who had joked to Clement that there were still plenty of hits left in them, but those weren’t the answer.
Instead, that answer was buried deep inside Rogers Centre. Clement knew there was still one of those magic bats tucked away somewhere. He could sense it.
“All it took was me finding Spencer Horwitz's bat sitting in the back, and I’ve been using that,” Clement said with a big smile. “I’ve got to be honest, that’s the one I've been using the last week or so. I found it a couple of weeks ago, and I finally started using it, so there’s a little story for you.”
This is the same bat that helped spark Clement a year ago. Clement went 0-for-4 in Thursday’s 8-3 loss to the Rays at Rogers Centre, but this bat has been helping him turn the corner recently. He and Horwitz were close teammates and have remained that way even after Horwitz was traded to the Guardians and eventually the Pirates, where he’s currently rehabbing from a wrist injury. Big leaguers can hear a bat speak to them just by holding it for a moment and flicking their wrists forward. They feel the balance, where the weight is, and how the handle feels. Horwitz’s bats feel a lot like Clement’s … but something feels just a bit better about them sometimes.
It’s the archer, of course, not the arrow. Horwitz might have left a little magic behind in that bat, but this is all Clement. He’s been on a tear since the Blue Jays began their recent road trip on the West Coast and launched his first home run of the season Tuesday against the Rays. His at-bats are threatening again.
“I’m getting back to being aggressive and being myself,” Clement said. “Also, failure is just part of our game, so those ups and downs happen, and I’ve been riding the wave. I’m trying to stay more aggressive, definitely. Especially at the bottom of the order, because if we can get some production out of us at the bottom, we’ll be in a really good spot.”
This sounds familiar. It sounds like the message David Popkins, Lou Iannotti and Hunter Mense have been preaching as hitting coaches. It sounds like what George Springer, the Blue Jays’ hottest hitter, has been saying.
“When I’m not committed and caught in between is when I get myself out more,” Clement said. “When I’m aggressive and go at it? [Expletive] it. Whatever happens, happens. As long as I’m aggressive, I can live with the failures.”
Clement’s position is developing, too. Andrés Giménez is on the IL and Addison Barger is earning more time at third, so Clement is taking more reps at second base and could move around more when everyone is healthy.
It all comes naturally to Clement, which he credits partly to playing multiple sports growing up.
“I love it. I don’t know how I got that. It’s kind of a gift that you’re able to bounce around,” Clement said. “I don’t know how I developed that skill, but I feel comfortable wherever I am on the diamond. When you haven’t played somewhere, you just go play. I don’t overthink it. I could go take a thousand ground balls at second base and that wouldn’t make me any more comfortable. Go out, trust your instincts and play.”
Clement grew up in Rochester, N.Y., but you could mistake him for a Canadian quickly (a compliment, I promise). He still plays hockey in the offseasons, and that’s the sport he credits most for making him the baseball player he is today, who not only bounces between positions, but has no problem laying out to make a play.
“Hockey gave me the grinder mentality,” Clement said. “Just go out there and ball out. Don’t overthink it. Throw your body around and let it take care of itself.”