Elliott: Clement a reason Blue Jays went so far ... and almost further in Game 7
Toronto Blue Jays infielder Ernie Clement set an MLB postseason record with 30 hits this fall.
November 7, 2025
By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
When scouts describe a player to someone who has never seen the athlete play they often make a player comparison ... as in he’s kind of like ... “this guy” as a fielder or “that guy” as a hitter.
Well, if you just arrived back after a month at the cottage, after the power went out leaving you without wireless, we are going to tell you a little about Ernie Clement.
We asked a scout who said he’s a little bit better than John McDonald. Now, when McDonald was a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, he could have run for mayor and won. He could have run for MPP in a downtown riding and won. And then he could have taken a run at Sir John A’s old office in Ottawa.
McDonald started 102 games for the 83-win 2007 Blue Jays with 383 at-bats. Clement played in 157 games -- starting 149 -- with 588 at-bats for the 2025 Blue Jays.
Clement, now in his third organization, is not McDonald.
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Hit record: In Game 7 at the Rogers Centre, Clement singled to right facing Shohei Ohtani in the second inning. The base knock extended Clement’s hitting streak to 13 consecutive games, surpassing former Blue Jays catcher Pat Borders’ 12-game streak in 1992.
Of course, Borders only played 12 games as the Blue Jays beat Oakland in the American League Championship Series and the Atlanta Braves in the World Series in 1992.
Clement became just the sixth player with a hitting streak of 13 or more games in a single post-season, joining Ketel Marte (16 games with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2023), Alcides Escobar (15, 2015 Kansas City Royals), Manny Ramirez (14, 2004 Boston Red Sox), Marquis Grissom (14, 1995 Atlanta Braves) David Freese (13, 2011 St. Louis Cardinals and Mark Lemke (13, 1996 Braves).
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Compared to skipper Casey: A baseball executive suggested infielder Casey Candaele. Long before he became the manager at triple-A Buffalo, he started 102 games for the 1987 Montreal Expos and 118 for the 1991 Houston Astros. Twice in nine years Candaele had more than 100 hits.
Clement had 151 hits this year with a .711 OPS and 114 hits in 2024.
Candaele may be a better manager than Clement, but as a player Candaele is not Clement. Cleveland said goodbye to Clement Sept. 23, 2022 when he was placed on waivers and selected by the Oakland Athletics. Then, 171 days later (March 12, 2023), he was released by Oakland and two days later the Blue Jays signed him.
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Tying the Randy Man: In the sixth inning of Game 7 of the World Series, Clement singled to left facing Tyler Glasnow and stole second base. The hit was Clement’s 29th of the post-season to match Randy Arozarena, of the 2020 Tampa Bay Rays, for the most in MLB post-season history.
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Hut-hut-HUT!!: DeMarlo Hale, was a coach with Cleveland when Clement was there, and is now part of the Blue Jays dugout brain trust.
“I’ll tell you why Ernie Clement arrived because players get better when they make the big leagues when they get older,” Hale said. “We had Nick Green in Boston playing shortstop for us.”
In 2009, Green started 80 games for Boston, which lost to the Anaheim Angels in the first round. Green played parts of 12 seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays, Miami Marlins, Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Dodgers, the Blue Jays and the Red Sox.
“Ernie is a Gold Glove finalist both at third base and utility player, he’s not afraid,” said Hale, of Clement, a #GoBills fan from Rochester, NY. “I’ll tell you who he reminds me of -- Aaron Boone.”
Boone played 12 seasons starting over 100 games at third with the 1999, 2001-02 Cincinnati Reds, again in 2003 with the Reds and the New York Yankees, plus 2005-06 with Cleveland.
“Look at Josh Allen -- he’s a development guy too,” said Hale, who added while walking away “that’s why Josh is the quarterback on our fantasy football team.”
The most hits Green had was 76 in 2005 with the Rays. In his eight seasons Green appeared in 111 games with the 2005 Tampa Bay Rays and 103 with the 2009 Red Sox.
Green is not Clement.
Astro comp: Another coach compared Clement to Adam Everett, who started over 100 games -- mostly at shortstop -- with the Houston Astros in 2003, 2005-06 and 2009 with Detroit.
“Ernie covers the plate better,” he added.
Clement doubled to left in the eighth of Game 7 of the World Series, leading off against reliever Emmet Sheehan for his 30th hit of post-season play to set a new MLB record.
It was Clement’s 10th multi-hit game of the post-season surpassing teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Montreal, Que.) this October, Troy Glaus, with the 2002 Anaheim Angels, Grissom and Marty Barrett, of the 1986 Red Sox.
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Tiger comparisons: Blue Jays broadcaster Joe Siddall said McDonald was not quite the hitter Clement was and struck out a bit more.
“I go back to my Detroit Tigers days and compare Ernie to maybe Omar Infante or Placido Polanco,” Siddall said. “Polanco was more of a pure hitter. Ernie is more of a hacker, an aggressive pull hitter.
“What is similar is the way they don’t strike out much and Polanco and Ernie are such good defenders.”
Infante had six seasons in which he had 100 or more hits, including 160 with the 2011 Florida Marlins. Plus 152 the next year split between the Marlins and the Tigers, 151 with the 2010 Atlanta Braves, 144 with the 2013 Tigers, 133 with the 2004 Tigers and 133 with the 2014 Kansas City Royals.
Polanco had a 200-hit season in 2007. It was one of his 12 straight, 100-plus hit major league seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals (102, 173 in 2000-01), split between the Cardinals and the Philadelphia Phillies (158, in 2002), two more with the Phillies (142 in 2003, 150 in 2004), splitting (155 in 2005) time with the Phillies and the Tigers, and then four more (136 in 2006, 200 in 2007, 178 in 2008, 176 in 2009) with the Tigers.
Polanco played 16 seasons in the majors, starting more than 100 times in five seasons. So,the comparison to Clement, two years into his everyday, everywhere role, is a tough comparison.
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So close with the winning on …: And in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 of the World Series with the score tied and the bases loaded Clement struck what looked like would be a game winner to left centre. Kiki Hernandez, who doubled Addison Barger off second to end Game 6, admitted he took a bad route on the ball and was attempting to make an over-the-shoulder catch with the blue fence fast approaching.
Defensive replacement centre fielder Andy Pages collided with Hernandez, knocking him down but traveled 123 feet to make a game-saving catch on the track.
Late in Game 7, FOX broadcaster and Hall of Famer John Smoltz said: “If the Blue Jays win this, I could argue that they have beaten the toughest pitching staffs of any team facing the New York Yankees (Luis Gil, Max Fried and Cam Schlittler), Seattle Mariners (Logan Gilbert and George Kirby) and the Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow) this post season.”
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An emotional, teary-eyed Clement talks to reporters post Game 7: “The only thing I can think of right now is spending this last night with all the boys. I’m going to miss them in the off-season. I couldn’t wait to come to the field every day and hang with everybody. I’ve been crying for probably an hour. I thought I was done with the tears, but I love these guys so much. It was so much fun coming to work every day and battling with these guys. We have so much to be proud of, even if it didn’t go our way.”
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The record wrap: In 18 post-season games against the Yankees, Mariners and the Dodgers, Clement batted .416 30-for-73 (.408) with six doubles, a triple, a homer, nine RBIs and a .977 OPS.
What follows is a list of October/November hit leaders and feel free to look for infielders like McDonald, Cadnaele, Green, Boone, Everett, Infante, Polanco, we mentioned.
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All-time hit leaders in post season
Ernie Clement, Blue Jays, 2025, 30
Vlad Guerrero, Blue Jays, 2025, 29
Randy Arozarena, Tampa Bay Rays, 2020, 29
Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco Giants, 2014, 28