For the majority of his early career, Ernie Clement was out of the lineup; he was one of many bench bats waiting for his turn. The Rochester native was living out the life of most journeyman baseball players, and even that playing time he was craving seemed to be running out.

Except his chance to play in Toronto changed everything. Here’s the story of how Clement went from nobody to everybody’s favourite underdog.

Ernie Clement wasn’t a heralded prospect. He was the No. 30 prospect in the Cleveland Guardians system at the time and was called up in 2021 for his versatility. His mission was simple: make quality contact and good defensive plays to become a serviceable utility man. He wasn’t an everyday player, but he did just enough to play 40 games in Cleveland in his debut year.

Clement played just as advertised, slashing .231/.285/.339 with a 14.3% strikeout rate, 21 singles, four doubles and three home runs. This kind of slap hitter profile was what the Guardians were searching for, but he bounced back between Triple-A and the majors without a permanent roster spot.

A year after his debut, Clement consistently struggled to make meaningful contact but was a go-to utility man when the Guardians needed him. He played four different defensive positions and appeared twice as a relief pitcher in blowout losses. Clement also nearly became an emergency catcher, doubling down on his versatility again.

If there was one thing that kept him on the team, even for a little bit, it was his enthusiasm. Whether he was playing or not, his fellow Guardians players raved about how much energy he brought to the game and boosted the team’s morale.

Sadly, that wasn’t enough to save him from Cleveland’s roster decisions. Clement was designated for assignment in September of that year after slashing .200/.264/.221 in 63 games with a -0.4 WAR. The Athletics (then the Oakland Athletics) picked him up on waivers, but that transition dented the New York native’s abilities. His slash line with his new team was at .056/.056/.111 in the six games he played. Consequently, the Athletics designated him for assignment in December, taking him off the 40-man roster but still in the A’s system as he passed through waivers unclaimed. Clement didn’t have enough service time to reject the assignment, so he went to the Triple-A squad and received an invitation to Spring Training.

Even in his excruciating slumps, Clement’s defence never dipped; that’s what earned him the playing time with both the Guardians and the Athletics, even if his batting skills were far from ideal. There was some potential left in this versatile infielder. All he needed was just one team that was going to give him a chance to do something.

Clement started the spring with the A’s, but it was short-lived, as the New York product was released in mid-March.

And just like that, Clement got his shot when the Toronto Blue Jays signed him to a minor league contract with a spring training invite just days later. He wasn’t starting in the majors, but it was essentially a chance to prove himself again; there was always the potential of upward mobility if he performed well enough to force the Blue Jays’ hands. The defensive specialist was called up later in 2023 as a fill-in infielder and made an impactful difference with his contact ability.

Someone like Clement was new and odd for the Blue Jays. His contact skills and free-swinging style didn’t prevent him from making good contact, and he didn’t strike out much either. But even with his good performance at the plate, FanGraphs projected him to come back down to earth as a below-average hitter. According to baseball statistics, Clement was more or less lucky; his batting lines were destined to cool off. That’s how it went when he spent his time with two different teams in 2022. It was hard to argue that he was going to be any different with Toronto despite his 2023 finish with a .380/.385/.500 slash line in 30 games.

The 2024 season was when Clement earned more playing time after the Blue Jays lost all-star shortstop Bo Bichette to a lengthy injury stint. The infielder suited up in 139 games and slashed .263/.284/.408 with a 9.1 % strikeout rate, 78 singles, 21 doubles, three triples and 12 home runs. Defensively, he played both shortstop and third base, and he was later nominated as one of the AL Gold Glove finalists after playing 72 games as a third baseman.

Clement gradually became an indispensable infielder on the Blue Jays roster. His unusual contact and defence were exactly what Toronto needed at the time; they were even more valuable for this team that hoped to climb out of disappointing results.

By the time the 2025 season started, having Clement in the everyday lineup was a no-brainer for the Blue Jays.

The infielder proved his abilities with his glove and bat in the past two seasons, and he lived up to the expectations once again in 2025. His elite contact skills helped him produce a .277/.313/.398 slashline in 159 games with 105 singles, 35 doubles, two triples and nine home runs.

That skill translated to the Blue Jays’ playoff run that got the team to the World Series stage last October. Throughout the improbable playoff stretch, Clement fully understood his job description: get on base and turn it over to the next man up. He also never let any unfortunate developments get to him. Instead, Clement chose to shrug things off and focused on what was in front of him, along with the power of friendship.

His mentality shaped him into one of the better hitters in the Blue Jays’ lineup in October. Clement slashed .411/.416/.562 with 9 RBIs in 18 games and set a single postseason hitting record with 30 hits. Even though the Blue Jays ultimately lost the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, their playoff run turned Clement into a relentless and unlikely hero.

The Blue Jays could get this far because their stars played like stars. And then there’s also role players like Clement, who exceeded everyone’s expectations to deliver important hits that changed the face of the playoffs. Who knew Clement would be at the centre of all of this when he was DFA’d twice back in 2022?

Clement picked up where he left off in 2026 with a slash line of .297/.317/.439 in 79 games, and he already hit 20 doubles and seven home runs in that span. That, combined with his unforgettable performance in the 2025 playoffs, helped him garner 3.2 million votes for the 2026 All-Star Game.

Baseball is Clement’s favourite thing in the world – that joy clearly has come through.

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