Detroit Tigers: Top 20 prospects going into the 2020 season

Kody Clemens, 2B, Single-A in 2019

Son of former Cy Young award-winning pitcher Roger Clemens, Kody Clemens, was selected by the Houston Astros in 2015 out of high-school. Ultimately Clemens would decide to attend college at the University of Texas, where he would eventually get drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the third round of the 2018 First-Year Amateur Player Draft.

The second baseman and left-handed hitter would go on to hit his way to the Double-A level in his second year with the organization after an active second campaign with Single-A Lakeland. Clemens stands 6-foot-1, 170-pounds as a twenty-three-year-old in the Tigers system. He spent most of 2019 with the Single-A Lakeland team tallying 115 games there, but as mentioned above, he did earn a promotion near the end.

With Lakeland, Clemens would hit .238/.314/.411 with eleven home runs and fifty-nine RBI. He would also steal eleven bases during his time with the Single-A club in 2019. After earning his promotion, his numbers would take a dip, with his slash line falling to .170/.278/.277 while with the Double-A Erie squad.

Looking at Clemens swing, it is easy to see he has a big stride, not necessarily a Bryce Harper leg kick, but a big stride. He transfers his weight with the stride to get good leverage on the ball. Clemens attacks the inside pitch as a pull and gap hitter who is where his power is the strongest.

Clemens has morphed into more of a power-hitting second baseman even if he is not a significant power threat yet, the raw power is there and developing. Defensively, Clemens has been noted to be a swift clean defender, his range is nothing to write home about, but he has decent hands that allow him to play solid defense. He has all the makings of a swift defender based on his defensive tools for the future infield of the Tigers organization.

MLB Expectation: It has been touched on above, but Clemens has the tools to be a second baseman who has a left-handed hitting power threat. A good comparison for Clemens offensively would be current Detroit Tigers’ second baseman, Jonathan Schoop. Providing all goes well along the rest of the way on his path to the big leagues, he could be a second baseman who hits for power rather than hitting for average from the left side of the plate.