Time for the first player in this new series, Jeff Clement. Clement was a non-roster invite and is looking for a backup job to Kenji Johjima. Clement is the Mariners' best catching prospect, and could be taking over the starting catcher job soon. Clement is only 24, and was named a first-team All-American by Baseball America in 2005 as a Catcher. Jeff put up some amazing numbers during his three seasons playing in the Pac 10 with USC. His minor league numbers look good too; .276/.360/.459 in three seasons along with 32 HR and 143 RBI. Not bad for 883 AB's. I'd expect that to translate into his major league career. He still could use another few months in the minors, but expect him with the big club at some point during this season. This guy is one of the M's top prospects, and could turn some heads. Keep your ST tracker on this guy.
2 comments:
I disagree that he'll be competing for the backup job. Clement is either going to start in AAA or be inserted into a DH platoon. Handing Clement the backup duties would cause him to rot and become a waste of talent the way Rene Rivera was, although they are hardly on the same level.
I agree that he will likely be at AAA or in the DH job, but he says that he wants to catch. I'm also talking about fown the road a bit, midseason-ish.
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