Washington Nationals news & notes: Nats’ prospect Alex Clemmey on time and development…

Notes and quotes on the top-ranked lefty in the Nationals’ minor league system…

As Washington Nationals’ General Manager and President of Baseball Ops Mike Rizzo explained it after he traded a year-plus of team control of Lane Thomas to the Guardians for three prospects at the trade deadline this past summer, the deal came across his desk and he decided to make the trade with Cleveland after they offered the right kind of return for Thomas.

“I think that in this particular situation we got a player that we thought we got market value in return, and that was the reason we pulled the trigger,” Rizzo explained.

“When you can headline it with the upside 19-year-old [Alex] Clemmey, and [23-year-old José] Tena, and [19-year-old Rafael] Ramirez, [Jr.], I think that was — the surplus value of those guys and the impact that they could have, and the upside that they all have, I thought was a good return for a really good player in Lane Thomas.”

Rizzo broke down the package from the Guardians.

“You get a left-handed pitcher with the upside and the pedigree of Clemmey,” Rizzo continued, “and we thought Tena was a good pickup for us, and Ramirez, Jr. is a guy that we’re going to be interested seeing him develop, so we thought that we got the most impactful prospects back that we could.”

Clemmey, the “headliner” of the return in Rizzo’s mind, is a 2023 2nd Round pick by the Guardians out of Bishop Hendricken High School in Warwick, Rhode Island, who moved from Class-A Lynchburg, VA in Cleveland’s system to the Class-A affiliate in Fredericksburg, VA when he joined Washington’s organization (while the clubs were playing each other). He went on to win the Carolina League Championship with his new club, posting a combined 4.58 ERA with 63 walks and 123 Ks in 25 starts and 92 ¹⁄₃ innings pitched in the regular season before making two starts in the postseason.

The run he and his club went on in the Nationals’ system was a great opportunity for him to test himself and perform in an atmosphere he hadn’t experienced before.

“It was a great run. We had a great finish to the year,” Clemmey told MLB Network Radio’s Grant Paulsen on his Minors and Majors show this past weekend.

“Played in some really high-leverage games and were able to come out with the win.

“Pitching in a playoff atmosphere, first year being in pro ball, was really cool. I never really had that experience coming out of a high school instead of going to college, you know, so that was definitely interesting. It was fun to compete in front of fans that are loyal to their team.”

It was a great opportunity to learn how to pitch in that kind of environment.

“Those high-leverage situations [are] where you learn the most, you know?” he said.

“It’s where you grow and mature as a baseball player and as a person. It’s a puzzle, right? And you’ve got to put all those pieces together to go out there and be successful in those situations.”

Of the biggest developments in his game in his first year-plus as a pro, which include improved command, and a switch from a “slurvy curve to a hard curve-slider,” or as he explained further, a “curve/slurve to a true, true slider,” Clemmey said he’s gained a lot of confidence since he was drafted, and realized he does have swing and miss stuff that plays.

“I think the confidence kind of comes from within, right?” he asked rhetorically.

“It’s all the hard work you put in when no one is watching off the field.

“All the time you study yourself, study video, study all those different things to really kind of put things into perspective.”

“I really just turned into a pitcher.”

Getting the walks down and improving his command overall were big steps in his development as well.

“If you look from year to year and the development that I’ve had, with obviously the control and everything like that, it’s dramatically changed every single year, right?” Clemmey told Paulsen. “I think first of all it comes with time and development and really getting used to my body that I’m ultimately putting myself in. I was 17-18 at the time [when drafted]. I’m still going through phases, right? I’m still learning to use my body, what position my body best fits in down the slope and on the mound…”

“It’s pretty crazy to see where I’ve come with command and that aspect. There were some games where I was really, really honed in and kind of putting the ball basically wherever I wanted. Earlier in the year some of those games were hard to find, but I think it just comes with time and development.”

MLB.com’s Pipeline scouts, who have the lefty ranked 6th overall in the Nationals’ system, as the top left-handed prospect in his new organization, wrote in their scouting report on the 6’6” southpaw that Clemmey is, “… going to need time to refine his repertoire and upgrade his control and command, but his upside as a potential frontline starter could make it worth the wait.”

Time and development as Clemmey said.

How would he describe himself as a pitcher right now and break down his own repertoire, Clemmey said he was a, “classic, tall, lengthy lefty.”

“Fastball in the mid-to-upper 90s, 95-97, get it up to 98-99 sometimes. Wipeout slider. Really good changeup. Slider was the kind of the go-to this year when some of the fastball command and some of the movement profiles and shapes were a little inconsistent, so definitely used the slider a lot behind in the count. That was kind of the go-to 2-0, 3-0, 3-1, 3-2. Obviously with two strikes I liked to use the heater a lot when it was having a good shape and having that good vertical movement up in the zone late, so yeah, I think definitely behind in the count using the slider a lot, ahead in the count with the fastball.

“The changeup is a really good pitch to start to righties obviously earlier in the count, and you know, playing a slider, back-footer.”

“Four-seam fastball, towards the end of the year kind of mixed in a two-seam a little bit once I got to the Nationals and saw some inconsistent shapes with the four-seam.”

With just a few months in the Nationals’ player development system, Clemmey said he didn’t have enough time with his new club to compare and contrast their different approaches to development, but he didn’t say he was excited to get going with the Nats’ staff next spring.

“From what I’ve seen, the Nationals are doing a great job with development. I know they’re on the uprise with all the new analytical and technology and things like that, so I’m super-excited to get to work with them and for this offseason and Spring Training going into the year.”

“From what it seems, from my perspective obviously kind of being from the outside looking in, recently … obviously getting traded there, it seems like they’re on a huge rise and the come-up with the analytical, and all that different technology.

“It seems like they’ve got a lot of great pitching minds and pitching strategists there to help.”