Jeff Clement
American former MLB catcher and first baseman.
Last updated
Jeffrey Burton Clement (born August 21, 1983) is an American former professional baseball player who played catcher and first baseman in MLB for the Seattle Mariners and Pittsburgh Pirates. He won the Johnny Bench Award as the nation's top collegiate catcher while at the University of Southern California. The Mariners selected him third overall in the 2005 MLB draft, but injuries limited his playing career.
Amateur career
Jeff Clement grew up in Marshalltown, Iowa, and at age twelve he guided his local team to the 1996 Little League World Series. At Marshalltown High School, he surpassed Drew Henson’s national high school home run record, ending his prep career with 75 dingers.
During his senior season in 2002, he served as both catcher and pitcher, leading his squad to the Iowa 4-A state championship game. That September, Sports Illustrated profiled him in its “For the Love of the Game” feature. Despite a weak showing at a pre-draft showcase, the Minnesota Twins selected him in the 12th round (362nd overall) out of high school, but he opted not to sign.
Clement enrolled at the University of Southern California and also suited up for the U.S. National Team. As a freshman, he was named Collegiate Baseball’s Freshman National Co-Player of the Year, Pac-10 Conference Freshman of the Year, and earned first-team honors on both the Baseball America Freshman All-America and Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-America lists. The following year, he collected preseason first-team All-America nods from Baseball America and the NCBWA, plus a second-team nod from Collegiate Baseball, and was a semifinalist for the Johnny Bench Award.
In his junior season, Clement captured the Johnny Bench Award as the country’s top collegiate catcher. He also made the 2005 Baseball America All-America First Team, the USA Today Sports Weekly All-America first team, and the Collegiate Baseball All-America first team, while earning a third-team spot from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. He was a finalist for the 2005 Golden Spikes Award and was named All-Pac-10 for the third consecutive year.
Professional career
Clement made his MLB debut on September 4, appearing in nine games that season with 16 at-bats. On April 30, he was called up for his second MLB stint by the Mariners, going 1-for-1 in a pinch hit appearance against the Cleveland Indians. With catcher Kenji Johjima signed to a large contract, Clement spent 2008 playing both catcher and designated hitter. He was optioned to the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers late in Spring Training 2009.
On July 29, 2009, the Mariners sent Clement, along with Ronny Cedeño, Nate Adcock, Brett Lorin, and Aaron Pribanic to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Jack Wilson and Ian Snell; he was immediately optioned to the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians. In 2010 spring training, he competed for the starting first baseman job with Steve Pearce and Garrett Jones, playing 54 games for the Pirates that year and hitting .201 with 7 home runs. He was placed on the disabled list in August 2010 with left knee irritation, ending his season, and was outrighted off the 40-man roster in November 2010.
After knee surgery in the offseason, he missed all of 2011 spring training and began a rehab assignment in the Gulf Coast League on July 21, 2011. He became a free agent after the 2011 season, then re-signed with the Pirates on a minor league deal in December 2011. On June 2, 2012, while playing for the Indianapolis Indians, he hit for the cycle in a minor league game. He was promoted to the majors on August 24, 2012, outrighted to the minors on August 31, called up again on September 3, and designated for assignment on October 25, 2012.
He elected free agency in November 2012, signed with the Minnesota Twins that same month, and announced his retirement from baseball on March 31, 2014.
Career statistics and honours
Medals
- Silver Pan American Games — 2003 Santo Domingo Team competition
- Gold World University Baseball Championship — 2004 Tainan National team
Tables copied from the source article, totals included as the source gives them: Wikipedia: Jeff Clement (CC BY-SA 4.0). Wide tables scroll sideways.
More in United States National Baseball Team Players
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Jeff Clement (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Statistics, medals and awards: the tables of the source article.
- Word definitions: the Codexery glossary, each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced