Ernie Clement’s rise to All-Star status has been built on something that never really left him: the same stubborn belief that had him shaking Terry Francona’s hand while the Cleveland manager was sitting on the toilet.
That moment came in 2019, when Clement was a late spring-training replacement for Francisco Lindor and was sent into Francona’s office to introduce himself. Clement had barely even gotten his feet under him in pro ball at that point, with just 147 minor-league games on his résumé and a stop as high as Double A. He opened the wrong door, found Francona in an extremely awkward spot, and somehow still reached out for a handshake.
“Oh my God, I was mortified,” Clement said. “He was dying laughing.”
Francona loved him for it. So did teammates who saw the way the young infielder attacked every drill, every rep, every second on the field.
Mike Papi remembered Clement taking practice with his “hair on fire,” and “sprinted all over the ballpark.” In 29 spring at-bats, Clement hit seven times, added a homer and a steal, and struck out only once.
Francona said he was “playing like he’s got a jet up his ass.” He even had a crudely photoshopped picture of Clement taped to his office door as a reminder for the team.
The run in Cleveland didn’t last. Clement struggled to hit over 103 MLB games across two seasons, was designated for assignment, claimed by the Athletics, and then designated for assignment twice more in Oakland before being released. But the self-belief that carried him through that chaos never cracked.
“I think Ernie always knew how good he was,” Blue Jays hitting coach David Popkins said. “Other people can doubt themselves at times in those positions. But, for Ernie, he got an opportunity to show exactly who he feels he’s been his entire career.”
Toronto gave him that chance in March 2023, when the Blue Jays needed another infield body and brought him into yet another spring training he wasn’t really supposed to be part of. Clement tore up Triple A Buffalo, hitting .348 with a .945 OPS, then turned that into a real role with the big club.
Utility infielder became everyday starter. A guy who’d been cast off in two organizations became one of the biggest postseason stories in baseball, finishing with more hits in a postseason than any player in MLB history.
Now he’s an All-Star starter.
Clement earned a spot in the American League lineup for July 14 in Philadelphia after collecting more votes than Yordan Alvarez, Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr. and every other AL star. His total of more than 3.2 million votes topped the field by more than 300,000. He’ll start alongside NL vote leader Shohei Ohtani.
The numbers tell one part of the story. The personality tells the rest.
Clement leads the AL in doubles and is hitting nearly .300, but John Schneider said the fan support goes well beyond production. The Blue Jays manager called Clement “a man of the people” and said, “He’s a normal dude.”
That’s the thing Toronto seems to love most. Clement still walks to and from games.
He still laughs after successful Automated Ball-Strike challenges. He still carries himself like the same guy who showed up in Cleveland years ago with no sense that he was supposed to be overwhelmed by the moment.
In Toronto, that attitude has only deepened the connection. He’s gone from waiver-wire afterthought to a player fans line up to see, right down to a giveaway jersey.
“I’ve been released, I’ve been optioned more times than I can count,” Clement said after being named an All-Star. “I stuck around long enough to earn more and more opportunity. I’m so grateful.”
He kept coming back to the same words in Toronto last week: thankful, grateful, thankful, grateful. But beneath the humility, the same old certainty was still there.
The Blue Jays, Clement said, just let him “be Ernie.” That was enough.
Even before the All-Star votes and postseason records, Clement had already decided how this was going to go.
“I’ve always believed in myself,” Clement said. “I tell myself, if I’m on the field, I’m going to take advantage.”
He’s got a hat for that, too. The cream cap with the red brim is a regular part of his routine, and on the front are three words that fit the whole journey, from Francona’s office to the Midsummer Classic:
“Never a doubt.”
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Blue Jays All-Star Debate Just Got Awkward For Toronto Fans
The final round of All-Star voting has created a familiar kind of Toronto dilemma, with several Blue Jays names still in the mix and fans left to sort out production from popularity. Ernie Clement already did enough in the first round to claim the American Leagues top vote-getter status, while Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is the one Blue Jay sitting highest in the final-round tally, a reminder that the roster picture is not always as simple as the ballot makes it look.
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Guerreros current production has not matched expectations, and the club is still waiting for the version of him that changes games by himself. For Toronto, the hope is simple enough: if the offense is going to take a real step forward, it needs Guerrero healthy and giving the team the kind of impact it has been missing. [Read more 🡒]
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The rise has extra meaning because Perry is still working his way back from Tommy John surgery in late 2024, a setback that wiped out his entire 2025 season and made this his first full year back on the mound. MLB Pipeline currently has him ranked 15th in the organization, and the next stretch at Double-A will go a long way toward showing how far this comeback can carry him. [Read more 🡒]