The Former Franchise: Jeff Clement
Troy Tulowitzki, Ryan Braun, Ricky Romero, Ryan Zimmerman, Justin Upton and Alex Gordon made up six of the first seven picks in the 2005 MLB Draft. Within that lot, Braun won an MVP, all but Gordon have been to at least one All-Star Game, and each have signed multi-year, multi-million dollar extensions with the expectation that each will become the face of their respective franchise.
All are still with the team that drafted them and all have become integral parts of their team’s present and future success. The fact that six of the first seven picks of a single draft have panned out like that is quite impressive, and it’s why the 2005 MLB Draft is considered the best in recent memory, if not the entirety of baseball draft history.
Of course, six of seven means there is one that didn’t make it. One who isn’t a franchise player, one who isn’t a central part of an emerging team looking to make an impact in the postseason.
Oh Jeff Clement. Poor, poor Jeff Clement.
The third-overall pick (after Gordon and before Zimmerman) in that fabled draft, Clement, a catcher, was drafted by the Seattle Mariners by way of the University of Southern California. He had experienced baseball success very young in his career as a star on one of the teams that made the 1996 Little League World Series.
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During his high school tenure he hit 75 home runs, breaking the national high school record. He won gold in 2004 at the World University Baseball Championship. In 2005 he won the Johnny Bench Award as the best college catcher in the nation. If there was an award or an honor that Clement was eligible for, he either won it or was in heavy consideration.
Obviously the scouts were high on his ability, and so too were the Mariners. After Clement’s first spring with Seattle, he impressed enough to start the season in Double-A. Within 15 games (and owning a .911 OPS), Clement was promoted to Triple-A. Diminishing numbers at that level gave way to injury; Clement had two surgeries in 2006, one on his knee (not good for a young catcher) and another to remove bone chips in his elbow.
Just one season after being drafted, Clement was playing at the highest level before the majors and suddenly been through two surgeries. Rumblings about Clement being rushed began to surface, something an older and wiser Clement can now look back at and agree with:
“When you play, you want to be at the highest level.” Clement recently told MLB.com. “It’s so hard to say what would’ve happened if things were different. And I should’ve been smarter than trying to play through some pain. When you’re young, you feel like you can’t get hurt, so you try and grind through too many things.”
For the next couple of years, as his drafting peers made their MLB debuts and started to make significant impacts, Clement continued to undergo surgeries and struggle to stay on pace with his fellow draftees. He made his big league debut late in 2007, but only appeared in a handful of games. While down in the minors, persistent knee problems and subpar defense behind the plate created waning confidence from management. In 2008, he bounced back and forth between Triple-A and the majors as he was impressive in Tacoma but not so much in Seattle.
In 2009, the writing was on the wall for the former third-overall pick. Instead of catching, Clement spent most of his playing time as DH. The team signed another catcher, Kenji Johjima, to a long-term deal. In July of 2009, Clement, along with three others, was traded to Pittsburgh for Ian Snell and Jack Wilson.
Four years after being drafted before the likes of Braun, Zimmerman and Romero, Jeff Clement found himself traded for a fifth starter and a utility infielder. Once in Pittsburgh, Clement was moved from behind the plate 90-feet to its right, the newest first-base prospect in the Pirates organization.
“I hadn’t taken a ground ball since high school.” Clement told MLB.com. “It was a tough learning curve.” It was a hard transition, but a necessary one. “The way the knee’s been, catching would be out of the question, anyway.”
In 2010, Clement bounced around between Triple-A Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, and his season ended in August thanks to yet another knee surgery.
Clement was a free agent this past offseason, but decided to re-sign with Pittsburgh and prove he had fully recovered from injuries. In nine at-bats this spring, Clement didn’t have a single hit, walking twice and striking out once. He was sent to minor league camp last week.
It’s hard enough being labeled a draft bust. It’s even harder being labeled the only bust within the first seven picks of your draft. While most of his peers are major leaguers and will be for the foreseeable future, Clement still finds himself riding buses to Buffalo instead of taking planes to New York City. But someone like Clement, who’s been through so much in a short professional career, knows the importance of staying positive.
“Play more and see what happens,” Clement told the media after being assigned to minor-league camp. “I have confidence that if I just take care of what I’m capable of, it’s going to work out the way it’s supposed to.”
No MVPs. No All-Star Games. No multi-million dollar contracts. No excuses. No regrets.
“I’m just happy to have a jersey on my back and be playing baseball. It’s what I love.”
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