Ernie Clement earned the most votes in the American League in Phase 1 of All-Star voting, earning the first spot on the AL All-Star team and the first All-Star nod of his career.
The 30-year-old Clement has a league-leading 20 doubles to go along with an impressive .292/.313/.437 slash line and seven home runs.
This season is a big first for Clement, whose career resurgence has been a major storyline in Toronto over the past three seasons. Originally selected in the 2017 MLB Draft by Cleveland, Clement did not make his MLB debut until four seasons later in 2021.
After struggling with the Guardians over 103 games, he was waived in September of 2022. After a short stint with the Oakland Athletics, Clement was waived once again, at which point he was signed by the Blue Jays in Spring training of the 2023 season.
As it turned out, Clement’s bat-to-ball ability and defensive utility was a perfect fit in Toronto, and the Rochester, NY native flourished with the Blue Jays. Over the past three seasons, he has played in 373 games and tallied 110 extra-base hits with a .276 batting average.
In the Blue Jays’ historic run in the playoffs last season, Clement played in 18 games and set a major league record for a single postseason with 30 hits.
Clement earned over 3.2 million votes to lead all players in the American League. Others in the top five included Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez, Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees, Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Angels legend Mike Trout.
At the conclusion of Phase 1, the Blue Jays have finalists in every position (including Clement at second base, who is an All-Star). Phase 2 voting will begin on Monday, June 29, where the starter at each position will be selected before the managers will fill out the bench spots and pitchers for each team.
Alejandro Kirk is a finalist at catcher - despite playing just 13 games after missing almost three months with a fractured thumb. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is a finalist at first base, Kazuma Okamoto is a finalist at third, Andres Gimenez is a finalist at shortstop, George Springer is a finalist at designated hitter and Daulton Varsho and Jesus Sanchez are two of six finalist in the outfield.
All of the starters will be revealed when Phase 2 concludes on Thursday, July 2.
This year’s AL All-Star team will be managed by Blue Jays skipper John Schneider, as the Blue Jays advanced to the World Series last season.
