High cheese? Yes, please! Clement homers on pitch at his eyes

TORONTO -- No pitch is safe from Ernie Clement this week.

Even the ones at his eyeballs.

Clement homered in his third consecutive game Thursday night in the Blue Jays' 5-3 win over the Angels, but this was one of the most unique shots you’ll see all season. The 96.7 mph fastball from Mike Baumann was 4.60 feet off the ground when Clement made contact with it, making it the second-highest pitch hit for a home run in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008) -- behind only Kyle Higashioka's home run on a pitch 4.61 feet off the ground on June 12, 2022 against the Cubs.

“I’ve never seen that before,” manager John Schneider said. “I basically just said “Holy [crap]” with everyone else in the dugout. That’s just elite bat-to-ball skills. It’s kind of a blessing and a curse and he’s swinging a really hot bat right now. That was pretty ridiculous.”

Clement’s favorite dugout reaction came from assistant hitting coach Matt Hague, who had his hands on his head and his “jaw on the ground.” George Springer, bouncing around the dugout, led the celebration as he always does. Clement is an intense competitor between the lines but as laid-back a player as you’ll find off the field, so he had no problem having some of his own fun with the moment.

“I mean… I probably shouldn’t be swinging at pitches like that,” Clement said with a smile.

He has a strange knack for this. There have only been seven home runs hit this season on pitches more than 4 feet off the ground, but Clement, a gifted athlete with remarkable hand-eye coordination, has two of them. On April 21, Clement homered off Joe Musgrove on a pitch 4.18 feet off the ground.

Known more for his contact rate -- only Clement and Luis Arraez have both a strikeout rate under 10% and a walk rate under 5% (min. 50 PA) -- Clement has 10 home runs this season, pointing to an evolution in his game. He’s not about to chase down Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the power categories, but Clement is putting a little more force behind the ball and using his excellent bat control to do it in all areas of the zone.

• Settled into everyday role, Clement still finding new gears

“I finally think I’m turning the corner a little bit and I’m impacting the ball more,” Clement said Wednesday. “I feel more comfortable at the plate. I’m just seeing it a little bit better, so I can get my ‘A’ swing off instead of just trying to hit the ball. My approach is a little more refined now and I can go up there with a plan.”

This has been the result of a mental shift for Clement, who has always had the ability to make contact at an extremely high rate but rarely been given everyday reps, particularly in Triple-A or the big leagues. Simply making contact was a crutch at times, but now that Clement can close his eyes at night and know he’ll be in the lineup the next day, that’s freed him up to look for more.

“When I’m not feeling good, sometimes I just fall back into trying to hit the ball,” Clement said, “instead of having a real plan and going in to execute it. Over the last couple of games, I’ve felt a lot more confident in my ability.”

“It’s been awesome,” Clement said. “Two years ago, if you told me this was going to be happening, I would have told you that you’re a liar. With where I was in my career, I’ve battled back. I’ve worked hard, so it’s cool to see the hard work pay off.”