A More Assertive Approach Has Kody Clemens Looking Like a Bat Twins Can Count On

[Trov]

If Clemens is part of our plans going forward to be a regular anything, we can just give up on the next season too.  He had that quick flash when he came over and helped us win some games, but since he has been who he is. His May and July were good, but outside of those months he has been below replacement.  If they have plans to keep him next year and use him I have no faith in our team next year. 

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, Trov said:

If Clemens is part of our plans going forward to be a regular anything, we can just give up on the next season too.  He had that quick flash when he came over and helped us win some games, but since he has been who he is. His May and July were good, but outside of those months he has been below replacement.  If they have plans to keep him next year and use him I have no faith in our team next year. 

I could say the same about Gasper, Julien, Fitzgerald, Keirsey, Outman, McCusker, Miranda, Pereda, Vazquez and even Brooks Lee. That's 10 more guys on the 40-man roster who have an "upside" of 0 WAR replacement player. Lee is the only one who is young enough to expect more from, but it will have to be at the plate because he's a bad middle infielder.

As bad as Clemens has been, he's 5th in WAR among players currently on the roster. Clemens will be around next season because they can't replace 12 guys in one offseason.

[NYCTK]

34 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

I could say the same about Gasper, Julien, Fitzgerald, Keirsey, Outman, McCusker, Miranda, Pereda, Vazquez and even Brooks Lee. That's 10 more guys on the 40-man roster who have an "upside" of 0 WAR replacement player. Lee is the only one who is young enough to expect more from, but it will have to be at the plate because he's a bad middle infielder.

As bad as Clemens has been, he's 5th in WAR among players currently on the roster. Clemens will be around next season because they can't replace 12 guys in one offseason.

Ok. But this is just further evidence that 2026 is at least one more rebuilding year, not that Clemens is any good that any team should try to keep around. No good team would want him around, on account of him being a bad baseball player. 

 

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, NYCTK said:

Ok. But this is just further evidence that 2026 is at least one more rebuilding year, not that Clemens is any good that any team should try to keep around. No good team would want him around, on account of him being a bad baseball player. 

I believe this is true. They don't have a dozen guys ready to debut who have MLB starter upside. They have a few - Jenkins, Rodriguez, Gonzalez, Culpepper - and they're mostly outfielders. If they're really lucky, two of those guys will transition well to the majors in 2026.

[Twodogs]

He's hitting .211?  What's so assertive about that?  

[ashbury]

4 minutes ago, Twodogs said:

He's hitting .211?  What's so assertive about that?  

Because he's doing it while switching to first base  "Hey!  I'm not a middle infielder anymore.. How d'ya like me NOW?"  😀

[Twodogs]

1 minute ago, ashbury said:

Switching to first base while doing it.  "Hey!  How d'ya like me NOW?"  😀

The Twins should try to switch him to pitcher.  He would have help at home.  Ha ha

[old nurse]

On 9/4/2025 at 7:05 PM, chpettit19 said:

Low BABIP was the same excuse we heard for why the next season was going to be Kepler's season every year. He was always due for a breakout! It can be a sign of bad luck, but it isn't always. Kody Clemens is right on his career norms outside of 1 crazy month. He's putting up the same stats he always puts up. He's not an MLB player. He's not some 22-year-old rookie. 

Wallner, on the other hand, has a batting average 50 pts below his career norm this year. People act like this is his norm, it isn't. He hit .259 with power last year. .249 with power the year before. People just assume he's always a .200 hitter because he strikes out more than they'd like.

Kody Clemen's career line is .203/.260/.392/.651. Kody Clemen's 2025 line is .207/.278/.417/.694. And his line after his complete and utter outlier of a month of May is .191/.258/.368/.625. He's doing what he's always done. Be a non-MLB hitter. Which is why an actually good team waived him.

The author used a theoretical number. The x-stats are also the theoretical numbers. Using babip as a predictor is theory. Nobody ever has a reason why the player is meeting the theoretical threshold. . 

[chpettit19]

2 hours ago, old nurse said:

The author used a theoretical number. The x-stats are also the theoretical numbers. Using babip as a predictor is theory. Nobody ever has a reason why the player is meeting the theoretical threshold. . 

Many of us explained why Kepler wasn't meeting his. Too many grounders and pop ups. He hit too many balls that were easy outs so it made perfect sense that his BABIP was always low. Just looking at 1 stat (whether an expected stat or something like batting average) is never a good strategy. But people who actually dive into the stats as a whole actually do come up with answers on most player's struggles or successes.

I agree, this article in general was wildly off target because he looked at 1 stat and didn't do any real digging into Clemens' overall performance. Which is disappointing because I think Matthew is actually one of the best writers on this site. 

[old nurse]

1 hour ago, chpettit19 said:

Many of us explained why Kepler wasn't meeting his. Too many grounders and pop ups. He hit too many balls that were easy outs so it made perfect sense that his BABIP was always low. Just looking at 1 stat (whether an expected stat or something like batting average) is never a good strategy. But people who actually dive into the stats as a whole actually do come up with answers on most player's struggles or successes.

I agree, this article in general was wildly off target because he looked at 1 stat and didn't do any real digging into Clemens' overall performance. Which is disappointing because I think Matthew is actually one of the best writers on this site. 

I see league average stats used to say if a payer is good or not. They are worthless for assessing a player’s skill. Look at the sheer number of poor performance by minor league call ups, backup catchers, half of the regular catchers and the player on a contract that the team plays because they feel that they have to and you can see a very large population of players. Sort stats by position for batting until you get that 30 that have played the most.  The median player will be far better than league average