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.¡±