President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski believes that the Phillies acquired a utility player capable of contributing to a roster with World Series aspirations in the form of Kody Clemens.
Kody’s father is legendary pitcher Roger Clemens. Roger won a record seven Cy Young Awards during his illustrious (but probably tainted) playing career, taking home the honor as a member of four different teams, the Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees and Houston Astros.
“We really like Kody Clemens,” Dombrowski said via Zoom Saturday afternoon. “He was a third-round draft choice a few years ago. I know I was with the Red Sox at the time and we really liked him coming out and we were hopeful that we could draft him. [Instead], the Tigers took him at the top of the third round.”
Kody was initially drafted by the Houston Astros in the 35th round of the 2015 MLB Draft out of Memorial High School in Houston. Rather than signing, Clemens chose to play collegiately at the University of Texas.
In three seasons as a Longhorn, Clemens slashed .284/.375/.513 with 34 home runs and 123 RBIs. At one of the best collegiate programs in the country, Clemens was named both the Offensive Player of the Year and MVP by his coaching staff after hitting .351 and driving in 72 runs in his junior year of 2018.
Clemens struggled in his first Major League action this past season, hitting just .145 and striking out 33 times in 117 at-bats. He also homered five times in those 117 at-bats with the Tigers, and was very productive at the Triple-A level. In 60 games for the Toledo Mudhens in 2022, Clemens homered 13 times, drove in 43 runs.
The Phillies acquired Kody Clemens from the Tigers. Photo courtsey of Allan Dranberg/Icon Sportswire
