Blue Jays’ gamble on Ernie Clement looks even better after Yankees nearly landed the first-time All-Star

Fresh off his first appearance in the MLB All-Star game, Ernie Clement is riding a wave that really began a few years ago. Many Blue Jays fans know the story of Clement being claimed off waivers by the Athletics in September of 2022 from the Cleveland Guardians, only to be released by them in March of 2023. Two days later he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays and the rest, as they say, is history.

But history could have looked a lot different for Clement and the Blue Jays. The 30-year-old second baseman was heavily pursued by the New York Yankees once he was released. In a story published by Shi Davedi of Sportsnet, the Yankees made a good offer for him, but Clement's agent felt that the Blue Jays offered a better path for Clement to earning his way onto a major league roster.

And that premonition came to be true as Clement over came what was once a crowded infield to establish himself as an every day guy for the Blue Jays. At the time, the Blue Jays had Bo Bichette, Matt Chapman, Whit Merrifield, Cavan Biggio and Santiago Espinal. Through trades, releases and free agency, all of them are gone, while Clement is still with the Blue Jays.

Meantime, on the Yankees side of the equation. The Bronx Bombers have also run through a myriad of names in the infield at the positions that Clement would play for the Blue Jays. They've had Gleyber Torres, DJ LeMahieu, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Oswald Peraza, Oswaldo Cabrera, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Ryan McMahon, Amed Rosario, José Caballero and Anthony Volpe.

Clement played in 30 games with the Blue Jays in 2023, and hit .380 with an OPS of .885. That was a good enough sample size for him to make the team out of the gate in spring training in 2024 and he has never looked back.

Over the last two and a half seasons, Clement has posted a higher bWAR (8.6) than McMahon, Torres, Chisholm, Caballero and Volpe. He's also collected more hits than any one of that group and his .277 batting average tops the group while his .716 OPS is third. Clement also went on to hit .643 with one home run and five RBIs in the Blue Jays' four game series win in the ALDS against the Yankees last year.

Clement earned his spot and hasn't let it go

There was a reason Clement was up for grabs in the spring of 2023. He had appeared in 110 games at the MLB level over the previous two years and had only managed to hit .204/.261/.264 with three home runs. But he credits the Blue Jays coaching staff and minor league development team for really unlocking his potential.

While playing near his home town of Rochester, New York with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, Clement hit .348/.401/.544 with a 5% strikeout rate in 72 games that year before his call up to the Blue Jays.

He's been on the Blue Jays' Opening Day roster the last three seasons now, and also set the record for most hits in a single postseason when he had 30 base knocks in 18 games during Toronto's run to the World Series last year. Clement has become one of the Blue Jays' most recognizable players as as he earned over 3 million votes in the fan ballot portion of the All-Star game voting. Only Shohei Ohtani earned more votes than Clement did.

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