Nationals Prospects: Alex Clemmey is the biggest wild card in the organization

Washington Nationals youngster Alex Clemmey has huge stuff, but also has a huge walk problem

Alex Clemmey is one of the most fascinating prospects in the Washington Nationals organization. On one hand, he has some of the best stuff in the organization. Guys simply can’t hit him. However, with how wild he is, they often don’t need to get very many hits to get things going. Alex Clemmey is like Ricky Vaughn from the left side.

Raw but Talented:

Clemmey has been a fire baller since his high school days. It is rare to see lefties hit 99 that young, but Clemmey did it. He also had a sharp violent breaking ball in his high school days that stood out for its spin. However, he was seen as a raw prospect when he was taken in the second round by the Guardians.

One more thing that made Clemmey so special is just how young he was when he was drafted. He was 17 on draft day, a rarity. One fun fact is that despite being in the same 2023 high school class, Travis Sykora is already 21, while Clemmey is still just 19. His birthday is not until July 18th. That gives him a ton of developmental runway.

Why Did The Guardians Give Up On Him?

Clemmey needs that runway because his control is still very raw. Last year he walked 16.1% of batters in Low-A. That rawness might have been why the Guardians were willing to trade him as part of a package that landed them Lane Thomas.

In the 2024 draft, the Guardians used their massive bonus pool to land three big money high school arms in Braylon Doughty, Joey Oakie, and Chase Mobley. With their lineup struggling at the deadline, they must have felt that Clemmey was surplus to requirements. By adding Clemmey and Jose Tena, the Guardians really placed a premium on Lane Thomas’ services.

A Look at his Stuff:

Let’s do a run down of Clemmey’s stuff. For starters, he has a nasty mid-90’s fastball that is helped out by his deceptive delivery. His lanky 6’6 frame flies at hitters. That delivery probably doesn’t help his strike throwing, but his stuff plays up from his funky slot.

While his fastball has big velocity, his sweeping slider might be the star of the show. When I saw him at the Spring Breakout game, that looked like his best pitch. He could manipulate it’s velocity from around 80 MPH to a firmer 86 MPH. Hitters were flummoxed by the pitch. He also has a changeup, but as is the case for most 19 year olds, his third pitch is still a work in progress. At his best he can rack up the swings and misses though.

Strikeouts, Walks and Ground Balls:

Alex Clemmey strikes out a ton of batters. He is striking out an absurd 13.13 hitters per 9 innings. Clemmey has struck out at least 9 batters on four occasions despite going more than 5 innings just three times. For a 19 year old in High-A, that is really impressive. He was the second youngest player in the South Atlantic League to start the season, so seeing him dominate with the K’s is impressive. It just shows how nasty his stuff is.

Another great thing Clemmey does is generate ground balls. As we have seen with MacKenzie Gore and even a guy like Max Scherzer, big strikeout guys usually don’t get a ton of ground balls. However, Clemmey is different. He has a stellar 52.9 GB%, which would be one of the better marks in the big leagues. I have heard that Clemmey has added a sinker, which is helping him generate those ground balls. With his control, he needs a weapon to get quick outs.

When talking about Clemmey, you have to talk about his lack of control. He has done a lot of really good things this year. His ERA is 3.33, he has a ton of strikeouts and the stuff looks sharp. However, he needs to get his control under control. Clemmey is walking an insane 7.77 batters per 9 innings. No starter in baseball is putting up those kinds of walk numbers. He has walked at least 4 batters in six of his 12 starts. While he is young, this cannot continue.

Future Role:

This lack of control makes you question if Clemmey can be a viable starter. Not many, if any starters in baseball have control this bad. As you climb up the Minor Leagues into the Big Leagues, the hitters are only going to get more disciplined.

As a 2 pitch guy with control problems, the bullpen feels like his future home. However, he is still so young and already in High-A performing. That means he should continue starting until he proves he can’t. The bullpen will always be there for him if he can’t put it all together. We saw Jarlin Susana make strides with his command in 2024 as a 20 year old, so we know it is possible.

Even if Clemmey is a reliever, he can be a dominant one if he can turn himself into a below average strike thrower rather than an awful strike thrower. If he can somehow find away to be an average strikethrower, the sky is the limit for the youngster the Nationals got for Lane Thomas. If they can get an impact player on a rookie contract for Thomas, who they got in exchange for a washed up Jon Lester, that would be an impressive trade tree for Mike Rizzo.