It was 2021. Hale was a part of Terry Francona’s staff in Cleveland. Clement was in his fifth season with the organization that drafted him and first on its 40-man roster, shuffling up and down between triple-A and the majors.
“He was trying to make his way, sustain a role on a team,” Hale remembered. “He knew he had to do whatever it takes. And when we called his number, whatever it was for, he was ready to play.”
Second base, shortstop, left field, third base. Lay down a bunt, hit-and-run, steal a bag, move a runner. Pinch-hit, pinch-run, pitch in a blowout. Hey, if our first two catchers go down, you know how to do up the leg guards, right?
It was unglamorous. The last guy on the bench, constantly on the verge of being optioned. Doing the dirty work that superstars and first-round picks aren’t asked to do. But Clement never saw it that way. He was a big-leaguer. It’s all he ever wanted to be.
And now, five years later, he’s an all-star, named the American League’s starter at second base by virtue of receiving more votes in the first round of balloting than any other player in the league. Over three million of them. Only 100,000 or so shy of the total Shohei Ohtani — one of the game’s most lauded and recognizable players — received. More than Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, Freddie Freeman, Juan Soto.
“To be in the same conversation with some of these guys is pretty funny to me, honestly,” Clement said Thursday, sitting in the Blue Jays dugout wearing a black hoodie and blue toque. “I got DFA’ed twice. I’ve been released. I’ve been optioned more times than I can count. But I just stuck around long enough to earn more and more opportunity.”
Kindly direct your powers to the greater good if you saw this coming when the Blue Jays signed Clement to a minor-league deal in 2023 after he was released by the Oakland Athletics midway through spring training. At the time, MLB Trade Rumors described Clement’s addition — fairly — as “a pure depth move” noting Toronto was already rostering established big-leaguers such as Cavan Biggio and Santiago Espinal on their bench.
With Clement carrying a .204/.261/.264 batting line and 50 OPS+ over 312 MLB plate appearances prior, why would anyone come to a different conclusion? Even Clement says he joined the Blue Jays purely because they offered the guarantee of four-to-five triple-A starts per week to begin the season.
Defensively versatile and relatively quick, Clement had opportunities elsewhere to ride a big-league bench, entering as a defensive substitution here and pinch-running there, until he was inevitably caught up in a roster crunch and DFA’ed again. But he was determined to play every day, even if it was in the minors, and prove he was capable of a more regular role.
“I felt like I was so close when I was in Cleveland to finding success,” Clement said. “I just wanted to play because I trusted myself and I wanted to bet on myself. I thought that I could continue to get better and find success.”
Hale, who watched Clement struggle to find his stride amidst inconsistent playing time throughout 2022, leading to the late-season DFA that took him to Oakland, agreed.
“It’s not easy being a utility player at the big-league level,” Hale said. “Those types of players, they play every day in the minor leagues. All of a sudden, you get an opportunity in the big leagues, you’re in a different role, maybe you might be playing two or three times a week. That’s one of the biggest adjustments that a player will go through.”
Getting the opportunity to play regularly with Buffalo in 2023 — plus consistent drill work with then Bisons hitting coach Matt Hague to help improve his point of contact and get more out of his uncanny bat-to-ball ability — is where things turned.
After hitting .328/.408/.512 over his first 145 triple-A plate appearances, the Blue Jays selected Clement’s contract in late May after Espinal hit the IL with a hamstring issue. He rode the option carousel for a couple months from there until late August when Bo Bichette suffered a quad issue and Clement took over for two weeks as Toronto’s starting shortstop during a post-season push.
Hitting .366 while playing solid defence over that span earned Clement the right to stay up in the majors when Bichette returned. And the following spring, out of options and locked in a competitive battle for one of Toronto’s bench spots, Clement OPS’ed 1.026 with three homers while whiffing only twice on 63 swings. “He forced our hand,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said at the end of camp as he announced Clement was coming north with the team.
“He’s the definition of a grinder. He never gave up. He continued to work,” Hale said. “He took advantage of every opportunity that came. He put himself in that position. That says a lot about the person, the character, and, really, the love of the game.”
Since Clement earned that opening-day roster spot in 2024, only Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has appeared in more games for the Blue Jays. Just 33 players have appeared in more games MLB-wide. Only 42 have more hits while 30 have a higher batting average. A mere three have struck out less often. And only one — Lenyn Sosa, who else? — has walked at a lower clip.
Yes, Clement’s is an uncommon, throwback profile — free-swinging, high-chase, high-contact, just-put-the-ball-in-play-and-run — that would’ve made him a coveted commodity in the 80’s but is nearly extinct today. Yet the Blue Jays have made it work over the last two years as a complementary piece either atop or near the bottom of lineups built around power threats in between.
An overnight fan-favourite, Clement set career-highs across the board in 2025 before going mental in October, breaking MLB’s record for hits in a single post-season while batting .411 and OPS’ing .977. He began 2026 at the World Baseball Classic representing Team USA before flirting with a .300 batting average and the MLB lead in doubles through mid-to-late June.
That’s how an up-and-down utility player who couldn’t catch on with the Guardians and Athletics — two organizations that rely on overlooked, undervalued talent to fill out low-cost rosters — became a lineup fixture and all-star with the Blue Jays, one of MLB’s biggest spenders. How the last guy on the bench became the first guy voted into an all-star game. Clement will tell you it happened slowly and quickly at the same time.
“I’ve failed more than anybody in this game and I’ve used those failures to build and grow. I wouldn’t be who I am today without sucking it up a little bit early on in my career,” Clement said. “I love the game of baseball more than anything in the world. And I’m really fortunate to still be playing and still be sticking around here. I’m so grateful. That’s really the only word I can have right now. I’m so thankful and grateful for another awesome opportunity.”