Jeff Clement has fought his way back to the big leagues.  The guy has worked his ass off to prove that he can play at the big league level.  That’s the good news. In 112 games with Indianapolis, the Pirates Triple-A affiliate, Clement has hit .276 (115 for 416) with an .825 OPS and 16 bombs.  Big numbers, for sure.

Playing first base regularly, Clement crushed 35 doubles, 16 bombs, and drove in 57. He has been a big part of the Indians being able to clinch the West Division in the International League.

Here is a video from when times were good for Clement… nothing like a pie in the face, is there?

Looking at the production from Clement makes the Pirates timing seem questionable in this move, though. He had an .810 OPS in April (13K’s), .907 OPS (19K’s) in May, .939 OPS (19 K’s) in June, .882 OPS in July (33K’s) and then the bottom fell out in August for the 2010 Pirates Opening Day first baseman.

The dog days of August have not warmed up Clement, the 6’1″ 220 pounder. He’s been ice cold, hitting just one bomb. A tremendous cooling off from his torrid pace. The OPS is down to .494 this month as he has struck out 17 times, and he has just 12 hits this month.

Before the Triple-A All-Star Game, Clement had an OPS of .907. The post-break number is .661. He was hitting .299 before the break and now just .232.  So, what’s up?   The Pirates need some pop off the bench.  We’ve been screaming about it for way too long, now.

Let’s trust the promotion is what Clement needed.

He has hit rather well against both lefties and right handers. His average is .281 against southpaws and .275 against righties.

But his power numbers have come against right handed pitching: 14 homers vs. RHP vs. two homers vs. LHP.   Clement has balanced out the doubles, so the OPS is steady at .825 against both.

Clement is a great story. He has had his detractors who have pointed to so many injuries and pulled muscles, and questions have swirled around the first round pick that the Mariners had such a difficult time getting to play Major League baseball.

We remember a post we made on the PG blog back in the day. We predicted Neil Walker would be a major league regular before Clement did anything.   Dejan felt differently, and put us in our place.  Damn shame we never cut and pasted a copy of that… oh well, just remember sometimes it’s not all about what happens at the minor league level.   Especially when the player is a first baseman in the Pirates system, it seems.

God, we hope we are wrong on Clement. But just curb your enthusiasm a tad bit before you annoint him the savior for the Bucs bench.

Some fans are jumping off the Zoltanic

Want to know what I don’t want to happen today?  The phrase that has been used so much recently.

If the season ended today, the Pittsburgh Pirates would be in the playoffs.

We think it’s a really dumb comment.  The season doesn’t end today, but we get it.  As much as we think it’s dumb to say, we understand it.  Actually, we don’t want it to go away.

But it seems like the Pirates need a fresh face or two.  New blood will be coming, it’s only a matter of when.

So until then we dug up some video on some players that might help.  Here is what we came up with you guys.

_____________

Chris Leroux is dominating in Triple-A.  The right hander let the Pittsburgh Pirates know he wanted to be a starter again after clearing waivers this summer.  Damn.  It’s a great thing he did.  The guy is tearing it up.

Jeff Clement rips a thing of beauty below.  But you know what, Clement is hitting .176 in the past ten games.  A call-up for the first baseman doesn’t seem evident at this time. Clement’s comeback is a great story, his bat coming off the Pirates bench would surely help, maybe just not right now.

Justin Wilson has serious heat, but just look at this filth.  He obviously wants to be a starter, he responded with a no-no when the Bucs let him know he was going to the bullpen.  We admire that, but wonder if having Wilson in the bullpen would really help.   We could see him coming up and being Hurdle’s last option out of the pen.  So, really the help might be minimal.

Kyle McPherson is enjoying his promotion to AAA.  He has made two starts with impressive results.  McPherson is a guy that would soak in a September promotion.  We trust it happens, we are big fans of the right hander.  He is also a double black belt, which is cool….real cool.

Jose Tabata is having a nice August.  If Snider is hurt yet again, Tabata needs to be brought up.  It might be the easiest of these decisions.

Yamaico Navarro could replace Josh Harrison.  That would be a good thing, a really good thing. Navarro has eight homers and a solid OPS in AAA, although Brock Holt has been the shortstop, Navarro could play short to spell Barmes against the fly ball heavy Pirates starters. We think he would be a better option off the bench, not ideal, but better.  Harrison might be the top hitter of the bench, I think he’s around .230, the rest of the bench is actually hitting for a worse average as hard is that to believe.  The bench needs help.

Tony Sanchez is the wildcard.  Strong defense, good-not great arm.  It definently is interesting to think about, especially with the power strokes, maybe September is the time. He has an .822 OPS in his past ten games.

Jeff Clement has received a new lease on his baseball career in 2012, hitting .307 with AAA-Indianapolis.

When the Pittsburgh Pirates traded longtime SS Jack Wilson to the Seattle Mariners in July 2009, it was considered a minor move by baseball trade deadline standards.  At the time, fans had accepted the fact that the Pirates were once again in full-on rebuilding mode, and Wilson was two seasons removed from his last truly productive campaign with the Bucs.  It seemed that Pirates fans were more irked by the inclusion of the once promising Ian Snell in the deal than they were by the trade of Wilson.  The real kicker of the deal was that the Bucs seemed to have shipped Wilson and Snell off to Seattle for nothing, receiving four players who the Mariners were more than happy to part with – including once-time top prospect Jeff Clement.

Clement had been a first-round draft pick by Seattle in 2005, a college catcher who had broken a bunch of high school batting records during his younger days and then became one of the most celebrated player sin the Country while at USC.  He was universally considered a can’t-miss prospect, a bat that experts compared to Mike Piazza and defense that made him a Johnny Bench Award Winner in 2005.  The Mariners, desperate to develop position players, were tickled three shades of pink to draft Clement.  Seattle had not been able to develop any legitimate Major League hitters since the days of Alex Rodriguez, and looked at Clement as the next great Mariners hitter.  Unfortunately for Seattle, after hitting well at all levels of the minor leagues. Clement was never able to fulfill his promise once called up to Seattle.  He debuted in 2007, playing in 19 games and batting .375 – a great start to a promising career – but once handed a job on the big league roster in 2008, he struggled mightily.  He would hit .227 with just 5 home runs in 224 PA for the M’s in 2008, and was sent back to the minors.  Once back at AAA, Clement raked – in 2008, his minor league statistics were off he charts – .335 BA, 14 HR and 43 RBI at AAA.  He was putting up another decent AAA season in 2009 when the Pirates made the deal to acquire him.

From there, the story takes a sad turn.  Clement was assigned to AAA-Indianapolis in 2009 and struggled, but that didn’t stop the Pirates from virtually handing him the first base job in 2010.  He battled injuries and a lack of productivity, and struck out 37 times in just 154 PA before the Bucs had seen enough.  No longer a catcher, Clement would need to improve all aspects of his game to become a major league first baseman.  He showed power in that 2010 stretch, but overall he was a major disappointment to the Pirates, who thought he was ready for the big leagues.  Then the real trouble started.

Clement sustained injuries that caused his 2011 season to be a complete wash.  He ended up splitting time between the Pirates Rookie League team in the Gulf Coast League on an injury rehab assignment, then was placed back at Indianapolis.  Overall, he was only able to accumulate 106 PA in 2011 and hit a paltry .266 with one homerun.  Once the season was over, the Pirates gave up on Clement.  They felt that his injuries had sapped whatever bat speed he had left and allowed the former first-round pick to become a free agent.

When Clement realized his only options were to head to Japan or resign with the Pirates as a minor-league free agent, he chose to stay stateside and continue to pursue his dreams.  Healthy for the first time in three years, Clement has been a revelation in 2012 with Indianapolis.  Playing exclusively at first base, he is hitting .307 with 6 homeruns and 20 RBI in 44 games.  His defense has drastically improved and he seems to be on his way back to the form he showed in the minor leagues throughout 2007-2009.  He even hit for the cycle in a recent game, the first time he had accomplished that feat since high school.

So does Clement have a future with the Pirates?  The Bucs are still searching for a first baseman, and Matt Hague has provided a spark in his second run with the team.  It seems the Pirates are convinced Hague can be the answer, and he has been granted the starting job for the current time.  The Pirates have very little depth at the position throughout their system.  The oft-rumored Pedro Alvarez to first base theory does not seem to be in the cards, at least not in 2012.  Alvarez has struggled at the plate but his defense has improved to the point that he is considered the best defensive third baseman in the organization.  If Hague were to sustain an injury or become unproductive, Clement would seem to be next in line for the call to Pittsburgh.  Then it becomes a question of whether his new approach to hitting can work at the major league level – Clement is no longer a power hitter, sacrificing his long swing for a shorter, contact-based approach that thus far has worked.

The Pirates are sitting just 3.0 games out in the N.L. Central and with the new dual wild card playoff format are well within what could be considered a contender this season.  The offense has shown signs of life, but first base continues to be a spot where the team lacks productivity.  Could Clement end up being the man to provide the spark the team needs in the middle of the lineup?  Could he be left at Indianapolis to build on his early success and perhaps be wielded as a trade chip in July?  It seems that the story of Jeff Clement is not over.  Perhaps by the end of 2012, we will all look back on that 2009 deal with Seattle and say that the Pirates truly won the balance of talent that fateful July day.  No matter what happens over the next few months, one thing is certain:  Jeff Clement has worked hard to continue pursuing his dream of being a major league ballplayer, and only time will tell if he is able to fulfill all of that promise he showed years ago.

—————————————————

You can follow Jeff Snedden on Twitter @jeffsnedden

Be sure to keep up to date with all the latest on the Pittsburgh Pirates and RumBunter by liking our Facebook page.

You can also follows us on Twitter @RumBunter and @RumBunter/team-rumbunter/members.