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Great job by Clemmey finishing with a couple strong starts. Saved a lot of my confidence in him.
7 walks in 6.1 innings, averaging > 22 P/IP
Clemmey, a lanky Rhode Island lefty, was drafted by Cleveland and signed away from a Vanderbilt commitment with a $2.3 million bonus, then was traded to Washington in the 2024 Lane Thomas deal. Though he has struggled with walks as a pro, Clemmey has actually increased his chances of being a big league starter (at least in my estimation) because he has been able to maintain major league-caliber stuff across 116.2 innings and is checking more visual scouting boxes than ever, as his delivery has been toned down and become more repeatable-looking. The version of Clemmey that seemed possible in high school — that this enormous guy with the violent delivery would fill out and throw 100 — probably isn’t on the table any more because he isn’t the most gifted, limber mover, and he’s fairly stiff in the hips. But he has an innings-eater’s size at a broad-shouldered 6-foot-6, and his underlying strike-throwing (the per-pitch strike rate of both his fastball and slider is 63% since the start of 2025, per Synergy Sports) is also better than a guy walking a career six per nine.Clemmey sits 92-95 with rise/tail shape, more tail when he throws the two-seam version of his fastball. He touts an east/west attack that relies on him throwing his mid-80s gyro slider in the zone for strikes. His changeup tends to have long tail, and Clemmey has gone through stretches where he struggles to locate it, but at the start of 2026, he was faring better in this regard. None of his pitches are plus and his repertoire looks like that of a backend starter. It’d still be justifiable to project on it because of Clemmey’s combination of youth and size, but I’m not inclined toward that because the level of arm speed, explosion, and general athleticism here are pretty vanilla. Clemmey’s post-2027 40-man timeline has him on pace to traverse the upper minors during the next two seasons and then break in as a spot starter in 2028, when he’ll be 23. He’ll pitch at the back of someone’s rotation for as long as he can throw strikes
Alex Clemmey (LHP)Current level (age): Double-A Harrisburg (20)The Athletic’s rank: Preseason No. 10 in Nats’ Top 20What he’s doing: Rediscovering his arm slot and his athleticismWhat it means: He can become the player the Nats hoped he would be when they traded for himClemmey’s funky delivery was one of the primary reasons the Nationals acquired him from Cleveland two years ago. Over the next 18 months, though, there was some regression as his delivery became more static. He walked a ton of batters. His velocity plateaued. Now, he’s back.Rather than forcing Clemmey’s funky delivery into becoming a picture-perfect, repeatable endeavor, the Nationals have helped him tap back into his athleticism. Pitchers at many of their levels — Cade Cavalli and Jake Irvin in the majors — work on their “athletic throwing” before games, helping them find range so their bodies can throw hard without metronomic mechanics.It has helped a number of their arms add velocity across the minor leagues. For Clemmey, the athletic movement has as much to do with velocity as it does with command. It’s a small sample, but he has walked six batters over his last 17 1/3 frames. He walked 26 batters over his first 23 innings this year.Also worth noting: The Nationals have recently installed a new set of high-speed GigaPitch cameras at each of their affiliates — when I was in Wilmington they had installed one the day before — which helps them capture better looks at pitchers’ grips and release points. This could also help Clemmey and others become more consistent.
