Ernie Clement has always been a hitter.
He received a plastic golf club from his grandparents on his first birthday, and his swing worked from the start. At 2, Clement swung an adult-sized wooden bat against pitches from his mother and somehow made contact. At 4, he rolled up socks and tossed them up in the air for himself to whack, over and over again.
So to those who watched Clement grow up, what happened Monday night was no surprise. And even in Toronto, where Blue Jays fans have watched Clement grow into a tremendous big league ballplayer, it felt like something well within the realm of possibility.
But the reality of this stat line is still remarkable: 5-for-5, with three singles, a double and a triple. The first five-hit game of Clement’s career.
It’s only the fifth such statistical game ever by an American League shortstop, joining Jeremy Pena (2023), Rick Burleson (1980), Mario Guerrero (1977) and Bert Campaneris (1968), per StatsCentre.
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For Clement, it’s the crowning jewel of what has been his breakout MLB season.
He was a star in the Rochester, N.Y. area at Brighton High School, the rare northeast standout to earn a spot at the University of Virginia, and then he started there as a freshman on a national title team.
Eventually, Cleveland picked him in the fourth round of the draft, but in early stints there and then in Oakland, he didn’t stick.
The Blue Jays gave Clement a late-season chance in 2023, and he hit .380 in a small sample size.
In 2024, he was steady if not a star, batting .263 with a career-high 12 homers and 12 steals.
And now this season, Clement spent much of the year above .300. He’s at .289 right now, already a career-high 22 doubles. He has played stellar defense all around the Toronto infield and is an absolute masher against left-handed pitching.
The player Clement has grown into is one it always seemed like he had a chance to be.
This is a guy who once said, “I just wanted to hit. I never thought about walking until I got to college.”
His American Legion coach, Tom Sapienza, once added: “He hit as if he had come down from a higher league. That’s how he hit.”
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On Monday night, that was exactly the case. Clement was unstoppable at the dish.
His only hiccup on the night came on his triple, when his slide into third was anything but graceful. But in the box score, a triple is a triple, clumsy slide or not.
Besides, this night wasn’t about Clement’s slides. It was about his swing, his hand-eye coordination, the ability he has been honing basically since his two feet allowed him to stand up and attempt to make contact with a round object.
Clement is a hitter, for his whole life, and never has that shone more brightly than it did in his brilliant 5-for-5 performance.
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