News
Jeff Clement Called Up to Mariners
Kyle Galdeira
05/01/08
Former
Waikiki BeachBoy Jeff Clement was called up by the Seattle Mariners yesterday
from the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers. The 24-year-old out of the
In the Mariners’ 8-3 loss to
As one of the most-touted prospects to come out of HWB’s 2006 class, Clement continues to prove worthy of the $3.4 million Seattle dished out after selecting him with the third overall pick of the 2005 draft.
In nine games with
“Every day, you treat it as an opportunity to get better, and when you enjoy playing the game, you’re going to get better,” Clement says. “It doesn’t matter how old you are, how young you are, you can always get better. Just through experience at the professional level, I’ve been able to learn a lot more and improve upon my skills and become more consistent. Years from now, I sure hope that I’ll be a lot better than I am now; it’s a continual process.”
Clement was on fire in the minors prior to his call-up, as the Marshalltown, IA native roped eight doubles, five home runs and drove in 20 through 23 games with Tacoma.
While Kenji Johjima (Maui Stingrays, 1996) has proven a reliable catcher and productive hitter, Clement should see action as a backup, and could eventually overtake Jose Vidro as the squad’s designated hitter.
As a member of the BeachBoys, Clement struggled against the league’s high-caliber pitching and posted a .189 batting average along with two home runs and three RBIs. But, he insists that the experience, which also exposed him to a wide range of Japanese pitchers, improved his game.
“Any time you have a winter ball experience, it gets you more at-bats, and
as a catcher, it’ll get you more innings,” says Clement. “It was a really
positive experience from that standpoint. Also, it was in
Clement holds the career record for home runs at the high school level with 75, and was named to the All-Pac-10 team three times while at USC.
