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New York Times
11-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
A slump, a meeting and Ernie Clement's rise to one of baseball's best defenders
ST. LOUIS — The feeling was unfamiliar for Ernie Clement. The Toronto Blue Jays infielder found himself deep in his first real defensive rut. In May 2024, he wasn't fielding anything cleanly and couldn't make a consistent throw, committing five errors in a 12-game stretch. After his final fielding mistake — a toss from third base that soared way high and skittered into the camera well — Clement stared across the infield, a blank expression on his face. The error prompted a meeting with Blue Jays infield coach Carlos Febles and associate manager DeMarlo Hale. The trio hoped to bust the slump and re-find Clement's fielding form. Instead, it unlocked a new level. Advertisement With a revamped pregame routine, Clement played perfect, errorless defence in his next 20 contests. He finished last season as the Blue Jays' top defensive infielder and was an American League Gold Glove finalist at third base. The impacts of that meeting still linger, as Clement establishes himself as one of baseball's best and most versatile defenders. 'It's easy to say, 'Hey, we need to be fundamentally this and fundamentally that,'' Hale said. 'You can use that word, but you have to have some actions behind it. And I think, to sum it up, Ernie put the actions behind it.' Clement never had to think about defence as he rose to MLB. For the 29-year-old, it was all athleticism and instincts. His agent, Steve Skrinar, sat beside a Cleveland scout during one of Clement's final games at the University of Virginia in 2017. The junior shortstop charged in on a ball, bare-handing the bouncer before firing on to first. 'That's O-Dog reminiscent,' Skrinar said, invoking longtime Jays infielder and four-time Gold Glove winner Orlando Hudson. 'Yeah, that's spot on,' the Cleveland cross-checker responded. A few weeks later, the Guardians selected Clement in the fourth round of the 2017 draft. In his first three MLB seasons, Clement graded out as an above-average defender, but was lost in the shadow of elite Cleveland infielders José Ramírez and Andrés Giménez. Febles saw the potential for more — and told him in that fateful meeting. 'You have good hands, arm,' Febles said. 'You have everything to be a real good defender. We need to kind of pick it up a little bit in terms of the preparation to lock it in.' After the meeting, Clement began taking pre-game grounders at game speed. The pace of hits quickened and the spray of balls widened, challenging the infielder's range. He added hand activation drills into the warmup, too, fielding quick hits off a machine to work on feel. Weeks after the meeting, Clement's defensive confidence was back. Advertisement 'June or July last year, I felt like I was never going to miss a ball,' Clement said. 'This year, I've carried it over and I feel really confident with the work that I've put in.' Clement currently ranks as the ninth-most valuable defender in the sport per Baseball Savant (plus-8 fielding runs). Despite Gold Glovers Daulton Varsho and Giménez missing extended stretches, Clement's elevated defence has kept Toronto as a top-five fielding team. He's the third-best defensive infielder and the only member of the top 12 to play more than one position. Manning every infield position in 2025, Clement embraces versatility. He's even pitched for the Jays in prior years and is the team's emergency catcher. With Addison Barger emerging at third base and Giménez locked in at second, Clement's ability to move around allows manager John Schneider to keep his .273 average and team-leading 1.9 WAR (per Baseball-Reference) consistently in the lineup. Before last year, Clement never played more than 70 games in a season. This year, versatility has earned him time in 65 of Toronto's 67 games. Eventually, it may earn him gold. Clement and Houston's Mauricio Dubón are the only players in baseball to rank within baseball's top 30 defensive players while manning more than three defensive spots. Those play-anywhere guys were once forgotten warriors, but in 2022, MLB introduced a utility Gold Glove award in each league honoring the top defenders who play multiple positions. If Clement keeps bare-handing balls and bouncing around Toronto's infield, he can become the fourth player and first Blue Jay to win the AL utility Gold Glove. If gold gets stitched onto Clement's glove, it'll come thanks, in part, to that May 2024 slump and the meeting that followed. 'Since then, I feel like I'm starting to climb the ladder,' Clement said. 'In terms of where I want to be.' Advertisement Toronto survived a four-run fourth inning and three-run ninth from the Cardinals, holding on to win 10-9 on Tuesday. Giménez hit his first homer since March, and Alejandro Kirk kept his hot streak alive with a second blast in as many nights. The Toronto backstop has 11 hits and six RBI in his last five games, hitting over .430 in June. 'Kirky doesn't say a lot of words,' pitcher Chris Bassitt said. 'But then all of a sudden he goes out there and plays some of the best defence, and his offence is off the charts right now. So, obviously, he's carrying our team. And it's just fun.' The win pushed the Jays to 37-30 on the season, four games behind the Yankees for top spot in the American League East.
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Blue Jays' John Schneider Sends Unexpected Message
Blue Jays' John Schneider Sends Unexpected Message originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The Toronto Blue Jays have taken the first three games of their four-game series. Saturday's win marked the Blue Jays' sixth consecutive home victory, improving their overall record to 30-28. On Friday, Ernie Clement led the offensive charge, going 4-for-5 with a solo home run and scoring twice. He stayed hot on Saturday with two more hits. Advertisement So far this series, the Blue Jays' offense has been relentless. Their 18 hits in the series opener were followed by 15 hits on Friday and 10 more on Saturday. Another notable aspect of the series has been the Blue Jays' aggressive and intelligent base running, which consistently put pressure on the Athletics' defense. Toronto Blue Jays players on the mound with manager John Schneider.© Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images This strategic approach has been orchestrated by third base coach Carlos Febles, whose decisions to send runners at opportune moments has contributed significantly to the team's offensive success. Following Friday's game, Blue Jays manager John Schneider had a message that Keegan Matheson of noted was unexpected. Advertisement "I thought we ran the bases really well tonight, and the things that go unnoticed, I thought Carlos Febles put on a clinic coaching at third tonight," he said. "You've got to give credit where credit's due." Febles, who joined the Blue Jays' coaching staff in 2024 after a tenure with the Boston Red Sox, has been a pivotal figure in refining the team's base running strategies. His experience as a former MLB infielder and coach has translated into a nuanced understanding of in-game dynamics, which could allow him to make split-second decisions that enhance the team's performance on the base paths. Related: Blue Jays Announce Bad News After Historic Win Over Athletics Related: Blue Jays Make MLB History in Win Over Athletics This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 1, 2025, where it first appeared.
New York Times
09-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Blue Jays' Bo Bichette refining defence that could shape his potential free agency
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Bo Bichette wasn't in his usual spot. Three hours before a Saturday contest against the Boston Red Sox, the Toronto Blue Jays shortstop would typically be on the infield dirt to face relentless groundballs hit by third-base coach Carlos Febles. But on this day, Febles leaned on his bat and enjoyed a rare moment of pregame rest. Advertisement 'He wants to take groundballs every day,' Febles said of Bichette. 'I'm the one to say no. Understanding he's playing every day, he's there every single day, you got to be smart with your body. You got to cut back sometime. Last year was a fight. This year, he understands it.' Bichette's pregame infield drills have been routine almost every day since arriving in the big leagues in 2019. Questions surrounding his defence have followed him since he was drafted — he 'despises' the errors that plagued him in the minor leagues. The 27-year-old shortstop has pulled back, marginally, on the pregame defensive drills as he tries to rebound from an injury-riddled 2024 season in which he hit just .225 with a career-worst .599 OPS. But improving in the field remains a priority. It's that lingering defensive question that could define Bichette's potential free agency. This season, Bichette ranks as a 6th percentile defender, per Baseball Savant. He's been worth minus-3 fielding runs, which would be his lowest mark since 2022. Neither his range nor his arm strength has graded near the league average, per Savant. Opposing teams might not see Bichette as a Gold Glove candidate, but they value his fielding more than the publicly available metrics. Multiple rival officials describe Bichette's defence as slightly below average — a 45-grade shortstop, in baseball terms. Talent evaluators agree Bichette is adept at making the plays he can get to, but it's the lack of range that hurts his defensive ceiling. Bichette knows it, too, making expanding his range a top priority. 'I had range coming up,' Bichette said. 'But I made a lot of errors. Then, I probably went the other way. I just tried to make plays. … This year, I would say that I'm making some improvements on how to get my range back, and I've made some good adjustments.' Advertisement Earlier this season, Bichette found he was crouching too low before the pitch. With a fixation on making the plays directly hit at him, Bichette learned his low stance cost him on groundballs at the fringe of his range. He's crouching higher now and continues to work on angles to the ball during infield drills. One of the biggest indicators of defensive range is pure foot speed. That's a hard one to train and doesn't improve with age. When Bichette broke into the big leagues as a 21-year-old, he ranked in the 83rd percentile, per Baseball Savant's sprint speed (28.4 feet per second). Last year, as Bichette battled through multiple calf injuries, he sat in the 49th percentile (27.3). In 2025, Toronto's shortstop is down to the 28th percentile (26.2). That trend, on top of the offensive outlier that was Bichette's 2024 season, is what makes the shortstop's potential free agency this winter — or trade deadline market — so interesting. If the Blue Jays fail to extend Bichette, he'll enter the market as a 27-year-old free agent with All-Star upside and three years with MVP votes. But what is his defensive future? Bichette is likely to move off shortstop eventually, wherever he ends up this offseason. That move could come in three years or, for some teams, as soon as next season. It could come sooner if he's traded. There are certainly teams for which Bichette will be an obvious shortstop option, including the Blue Jays. The Milwaukee Brewers rank last in baseball with minus-1.5 wins above average from the position and have plenty of money coming off the books. The Atlanta Braves haven't finished higher than 20th in shortstop wins above average since 2022. If you expand to teams that could use a second baseman, though, Bichette's potential market opens even more. 'I know there are teams that have shortstops that wouldn't move,' Bichette said. 'But I'm just focused on what I can do right now to help my team win, whatever way I can.' Advertisement Getting back to his place as an offensive weapon is the biggest task for Bichette this season. After a brutal 2024, he has seen his elite contact return, his strikeout rate drop and his power begin to flash, with a streak-snapping home run on the weekend. If the Blue Jays shortstop can remind baseball he's a threat at the plate, teams will find a place for him in the field. The question is where. The Blue Jays erased a four-run deficit to beat the Los Angeles Angels 8-5 on Thursday, fending off a sweep. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had three hits, and seven Toronto batters reached base multiple times. Yariel Rodríguez and Chad Green also stepped in to spell Toronto's top relievers, delivering three innings of shutout relief to secure the win. … After leaving Wednesday's game with right quad tightness, Andrés Giménez underwent an MRI. The Blue Jays await results as they head to Seattle for a three-game set against the Mariners.
