Feeling the Ern: Why the term ‘grit’ doesn’t do Ernie Clement justice
If you’re a Blue Jays fan, you already know the surface-level Ernie Clement story of the hard-nosed utility guy who somehow became a postseason fixture. He’s the “how is this guy always on base?” menace, the player whose name started echoing through Rogers Centre like a chant from a different sport, the “pioneer of the power of friendship”.
But the Clement story gets more interesting the deeper you go because his rise isn’t random, it’s not luck, and it’s more than “grit” as a personality trait. It’s the result of a player who has quietly been the same guy for a long time…a contact-obsessed competitor who learned early that the best way to survive in baseball is to never give pitchers what they want.
And if you want to understand why Toronto embraced him the way Canada embraces a fourth-line winger who becomes a playoff legend, you have to start long before the Blue Jays found him.
The Multi-Sport Kid From Rochester Who Never Looked Like a “Prospect”
Clement grew up in Rochester, New York, and went to Brighton High School where he wasn’t just a baseball kid, he was the kind of athlete who played everything because… what else are you supposed to do when you’re wired to compete?
He played baseball and also starred in hockey to the degree that he led Monroe County in scoring as a senior with 27 goals and 25 assists. He dipped into football as a freshman, played soccer as a senior “just to try something new,” and even bounced through lacrosse, volleyball, and basketball. While this reads like a made-up résumé for a “small-town athlete” movie montage, it’s actually part of what shaped him because Clement learned early that sports are about instinct, reads, and reaction speed, not just raw power.
This matters because it explains why his game looks the way it does now. Clement doesn’t hit like someone trying to win a home run derby but instead hits like someone trying to win a shift, win a rep, win a moment.
At Brighton, he put up the kind of numbers that don’t sound real with a .464 career batting average and school records in categories like plate appearances, singles, doubles, and stolen bases.
Still, he didn’t get drafted out of high school so he went to Virginia where the “Ernie Clement experience” became a little clearer in that he was going to do this the hard way.
Virginia: The Contact Artist Hiding in Plain Sight
College baseball usually rewards loud tools but Clement’s gift was quieter, and more difficult to teach, because he almost never struck out.
Across his college career, Clement had 745 at-bats and only 31 strikeouts. Read that again. That’s not a typo, that’s a skill.
Virginia’s own program write-up described him as a player who moved around the diamond (shortstop, second base, even some center field) because he was simply good enough to play wherever they needed him.
And then there’s the summer of 2016, which is the one many fans don’t know about when Clement went to the Cape Cod Baseball League (the high-end proving ground for college players) and hit .353 while getting named league MVP for Harwich.
That’s the first real breadcrumb that his “pop-up success” in Toronto wasn’t a fluke. For years he’s been showing in pressure environments that he can play multiple positions, put the ball in play, and become annoying to game-plan for.
The “Don’t Take Me Out of the Lineup” Phone Call
One of the most revealing stories about Clement doesn’t come from a big-league clubhouse at all. It comes from 2014, right after high school, when he played for the Albany Dutchmen in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League.
He started terribly by being hitless, and frustrated, as he went through the kind of stretch that makes young players spiral. Then he did something that tells you everything about him: he called his coach and basically said, don’t you dare take me out tomorrow. The coach remembered it as a moment of uncommon confidence from a kid experiencing real struggle for maybe the first time.
Clement recovered and hit .322 that summer.
That “keep me in” moment matters because it’s the psychological spine of his career. Clement has never been the guy everyone circles as a future star. He’s the guy who keeps insisting he belongs and then quietly proving it.
Pro Ball: The Part Where Most Guys Disappear
Cleveland drafted him in the 4th round in 2017, so thank you again to the Cleveland gifts that keep on giving. He climbed, and he bounced around the minors, and he wasn’t treated like the “future,” nor did he arrive like a savior.
Then came the kind of career pivot that ruins a lot of players when he got waived, landed with Oakland, and was released in March 2023 by a team that, at the time, was not exactly known for cutting talent because their roster was too stacked.
Toronto signed him to a minor-league deal late that year, quietly doing the baseball version of finding a perfectly good tool at the bottom of a clearance bin.
Which is exactly the kind of origin story that creates a cult hero later.
Toronto: The Cult Hero Who Accidentally Became a Key Piece
Here’s what the Blue Jays and their fans recognized: Clement didn’t just “play hard.”
He played like a guy who understood his job, but he also played like he was having fun doing it, which in a long season is a competitive advantage.
By the 2025 postseason, the chant wasn’t ironic anymore. It wasn’t a meme. It was a crowd reacting to a real phenomenon: Clement became a “contact machine,” who was striking out only a handful of times over a long playoff run and creating what MLB’s Keegan Matheson called a “second wave of chaos” behind Toronto’s star hitters.
Matheson’s story also captured the vibe perfectly: the players Toronto loves tend to be the ones who look like they just came off a hockey shift with a dirty uniform, great defense, and no fear. Clement leaned into that identity so hard he literally had a hockey stick sitting in his locker where extra bats should be.
Manager John Schneider put it in even blunter terms, praising Clement’s mentality and describing him as a fearless, ready-for-anything presence, and someone that teammates feed off.
Then there was the record-setting part when Clement’s postseason run became historic. Sportsnet noted he set the MLB record with 30 hits in a single postseason, along with franchise and postseason streak marks that turned him into more than a good story, he became a postseason event.
However, the most “Ernie Clement” quotes might be ones where he talked about being overlooked like it was normal weather. Not bitterness. Not entitlement, but more like, “Yeah. That’s been my whole career. I’m comfortable here.”
What Fans Miss When They Reduce Him to “Grit”
The thing is that calling Clement a grit guy undersells him because the real value is that he’s a roster cheat code.
He plays anywhere, he doesn’t panic, he doesn’t strike out much, he gives you professional at-bats in big moments, and he’s the kind of player who:
turns over lineups,
forces pitchers to throw more pitches,
keeps innings alive,
and makes opposing defenses actually have to work.
That’s not me getting romantic about baseball, it’s me spitting straight facts.
It’s the kind of skill set that becomes disproportionately valuable in October, when at-bats tighten, strikeouts spike, and “one productive ball in play” can swing an entire series.
Clement is basically proof that “the little things” aren’t little, they’re just harder to market.
The Real Clement Appeal: He Makes the Game Feel Human
There’s another reason fans latch onto him, and it’s not statistical, it’s that Ernie Clement plays like the game still matters personally.
Times Union quoted former teammates and coaches describing him as someone who never got too big for himself, who stayed connected to where he came from, and who made teammates feel welcome even when he was the better player.
That’s the stuff fans crave because it cuts through the weirdness of modern sports where players are brands and teams are portfolios and everything feels managed.
Clement still feels like a person and in a baseball economy designed to reward noise, he keeps winning by being impossible to ignore.
Sources
https://www.mlb.com/news/ernie-clement-has-become-cult-hero-with-blue-jays
https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/ernie-clement-sets-blue-jays-record-for-longest-hit-streak-in-single-post-season/ https://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/clement-former-albany-dutchman-plays-blue-jays-21120068.php https://virginiasports.com/news/2017/06/12/clement-bettinger-picked-on-day-2-of-mlb-draft
https://www.herdchronicles.com/single-post/conversations-with-the-herd-ernie-clement
https://ism3.infinityprosports.com/ismdata/2012030201/std-sitebuilder/sites/201201/www/en/news/league/?article_id=2296
https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/ernie-clement-676391
https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/summer_stats/2014~Albany_Dutchmen~PerfectGM/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Clement
Feeling the Ernie: Why “Grit” Doesn’t Do Ernie Clement Justice
A long-form Blue Jays profile of Ernie Clement—how he built a low-strikeout, contact-first game, why he became a fan favorite in Toronto, and what makes his skill set so valuable in meaningful games.
Key takeaways
- Why Clement’s game is more than “grit”—it’s a repeatable skill profile.
- How contact, bat-to-ball ability, and flexibility create real roster value.
- What his background reveals about his approach and mindset.
- Why fans connect with him—and why pitchers hate facing him.
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FAQ
Who is Ernie Clement on the Toronto Blue Jays?
Ernie Clement is a versatile Blue Jays infielder known for a contact-first approach, low strikeouts, and the ability to play multiple positions while delivering professional at-bats.
Why do Blue Jays fans love Ernie Clement?
Fans connect with Clement because he plays with urgency, puts the ball in play, and brings a steady, team-first presence that shows up in big moments.
What makes a contact hitter valuable in today’s MLB?
Contact hitters extend innings, reduce strikeouts in high-leverage spots, and force defenses and pitchers to execute— traits that become even more important late in the season and in playoff-style games.
