(ALBANY, NY) – For the second time in his young career, ‘14 Ernie Clement will be in an MLB clubhouse when the season begins. Clement will be in the visiting dugout when the Toronto Blue Jays visit the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday, March 28th as the former Dutchmen has officially been named to the Opening Day roster.
Clement posted a fantastic spring in Dunedin for the Blue Jays, batting .361 with eight RBIs across 13 games, earning him a spot on the big league roster. Coming off his best minor league season where he posted career highs in RBIs (58) and batting average (.348), the University of Virginia product seemingly made things click for the Triple-A Buffalo Bison last summer.
Back in 2014, the Rochester native was fresh out of Brighton High School when he came to Albany as a University of Virginia commit. Clement batted .322 with five extra base hits and nine RBIs in 19 games for the Dutchmen. Clement was named to the All-College World Series team as a freshman when he helped lead Virginia to a title, was a third team All-ACC selection as a sophomore and junior, then was drafted by Cleveland in the fourth round of the 2017 draft.
Since his time with the Dutchmen, Clement has bounced between the minor league and MLB, but now appears to have turned the corner in his promising professional career.
