The season that was: Ernie Clement

Ernie Clement was picked up as a free agent signing in March of 2023, after his release by the A’s earlier that month. I wasn’t thrilled with taking a castoff of the A’s (one who only played 6 games for one of the worst teams in baseball). It wasn’t like we didn’t already have a couple of dozen utility/middle infielders who likely wouldn’t be able to hit their weight.

He played 29 games for us in 2023, with a .380/.385/.500 line. Maybe he could hit his weight, or maybe 29 games wasn’t a large enough sample size.

2024?

So maybe he could hit his weight.

Baseball Reference had him at a 3.5 WAR. FanGraphs 2.2 (that’s a pretty big difference), giving him a value of $17.2 million to the Jays.

Ernie had a .297 wOBA ( last year .424) and an 94 wRC+.

His BABIP was .266.

Clement’s walk rate was 2.4%, and his strikeout rate was 9.1%.

His line drive rate was 20.1% down. The ground ball rate was 38.2%. The fly ball rate was 41.7%. 7.3% of his fly balls left the park.

Soft contact was 20.2%. Hard contact was 24.7%.

Davis hit right-handers (.278/.300/.424) better than left-handers (.230/.252/.374).

He hit much better on the road (.279/.296/.374) than at home (.247/.273/.374).

He hit better in the first half (.218/.314/.391) than in the second half (.140/.219/.250).

Clement by month:

April: .264/.286/.434 with 2 home runs, 1 walk and 6 strikeouts in 24 games.

May: .208/.225/.271 with no home runs, 1 walk and 2 strikeouts in 18 games.

June: .318/.333/.500 with 1 home run, 1 walk and 5 strikeouts in 21 games.

July: .272/.292/.435 with 3 home runs, 2 walks and 5 strikeouts in 25 games.

August: .243/.278/.418 with 4 home runs, 4 walks and 15 strikeouts in 27 games.

September: .277/.292/.383 with 2 home runs, 4 walks and 8 strikeouts in 24 games.

With RISP he hit .297/.315/.449.

He hit .260/.273/.406 in high-leverage spots.

On defense:

He played:

• Third base: 661 innings. 10 errors, .954 FA (league average .961). URZ had him at a 0.0/150 and +3 in outs above average.
• Shortstop: 314.1 innings. 3 errors, .979 FA (league average .972). URZ had him at a 13.3 UZR/150 and a +4 outs above average.
• Second base: 21 innings. 0 errors.
• Left field: 2 innings.
• Pitcher: 1 inning.

FanGraphs had him 0.7 runs above average as a baserunner. He stole 12 bases and caught 3 times. He only had one steal before this season.

Where Clement hit in the batting order in games he started:

• 1st: 3 games.
• 2nd: 9 games.
• 4th: 2 games.
• 5th: 12 games.
• 6th: 22 games.
• 7th: 20 games.
• 8th: 27 games.
• 9th: 14 games.

His longest hitting streak was 6 games. Longest on base streak was 8 games. Most games without a home run 28.

I liked his defense, especially at third base, but I was surprised he is a finalist for the Gold Glove (one of the top three in the voting). I thought he was good at short as well.

I'd like him more if he could take more than a walk every two weeks. A 2.4% walk rate isn’t good enough. If he could control the strike zone a bit, it would help. I expected more home runs, but when you don’t force the pitcher to throw over the plate, you’ll miss out on a lot of home runs.

Ernis was another right-handed hitting Jays’ batter who hit right-handed pitching better than left-handers.

I think I’d like him more as a utility player than an everyday third baseman, but then we didn’t have any better choices at third.

As a pitcher, he can throw a knuckleball, which is cool.

Before the season we asked:

• How many PA will Clement get: 5% were right picking 226 or more.
• August 1st Ernie will be: 27% were right saying Blue Jay. Bison and with some other team were the other choices.
• Who gets the most playing time: Clement, Barger, Jimenez, Lopez or Martinez: 26% were right saying Clement.