G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG 11 40 7 15 3 0 1 6 21 3 5 1 0 .444 .525 .375 EDIT:Grrrr.....I had those numbers lined up peferct. He's currently playing for the Greenville Astros. These stats are from 7/15-7/29. Looks like playing in Rookie ball isn't in Clemens long term plans. Hopefully he'll be in AA by next year. We all know Drayton likes to bring them up real slow (one of my theories is so he can save money while they're in their prime), but i think if he plays at his current pace, he has a slightly influential dad that can change his whereabouts. So if he does pan out pretty quick, as in a couple years, what happens to Ensberg? Can either play outfield? Koby sure doesn't look like it, and i doubt Morgan would want too or be that good at it.
I don't see him coming up for a while. Rookie ball is a long way away from AAA or the Majors. If he gets up to AAA and still is rockin then we can consider putting a watch on him.
Those numbers are nothing for rookie ball... but rookie ball is like High School + 1, so don't make anything out of those numbers. Most good community college teams could take MLB rookie league teams in a series. With that being said his numbers are promising, because at least he didn't come out slumping in the new setting. He could have easily sucked from the get go like so many other "sons" before him (Reese Ryan anyone?). You know he got the big bonus because of who his dad is, but you also know he is a workaholic because of who his dad is. I imagine you'll see Koby on the major league roster the day his dad retires for that last game... and then he'll go back down. I imagine he'll be in Single A next season, Double A the following... and then he'll get an invite to spring training, and depending on the Astros needs he may have a shot at the roster unless he is just lights out from the get go. From what I read I do believe he is going the route of a catcher because that is the Astros biggest need... if he was smart he'd give it a shot because it would be his best bet at getting to the majors in a timely fashion.
I hope you're right about being a catcher. It does make better sense. Personally, i would just hate to play catcher. But if he can hit in the majors, there's only a few of those in the league and they're almost all out of their prime. Koby's probably got a good canon on him since he was a pitcher. Plus we wouldn't have to worry about moving Ensberg.
I hear ya. My guess is he faced better or equivalent talent in HS. I have a friend who grew up in a small town in Iowa where there was a rookie ball team. They wouldn't have enough guys on the roster some times, so they'd be making phone calls to local high school guys to show up and play that night. Very average high school players. I sound like a Koby hatah...I'm not. I've just seen him play in high school quite a bit. And I played in the district he did when I was a high school kid. It's a joke. Believe me when I tell you that Morgan Ensberg's job is QUITE safe.
Koby is still tearing up rookie ball, and is doing better than the college boy from Tennessee Eli Iorg. Koby Clemens .354 AVG .432 OBP .554 SLG Ili Iorg .288 AVG .347 OBP .470 SLG
You realize Iorg's been playing with a broken foot, right? Both guys are very good hitters. Iorg is a bonafide 5-tool stud.
If he has a broken foot then why is he out there? He's played a full season already so let him recoup and come back next season. I'm not trying to diss Iorg, but to mess with the Koby Clemens naysayers.
good article on Koby Clemens right here: http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/335214p-286311c.html In the shadow of thy father Koby Clemens is not Rocket Jr., but his star has found its own orbit End Zone By WAYNE COFFEY DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - At a Thursday afternoon fish fry in the land of Davy Crockett, a teenage son of Texas is in a gathering room at Towering Oaks Baptist Church, enjoying a free lunch. It is almost 100 degrees in the foothills of the Smokies. The heat doesn't bother Koby Clemens, though. He's from Houston, and from rugged stock besides. Clemens is surrounded by Greenville Astros teammates and Towering Oaks parishioners, in the east Tennessee countryside. He has the brush cut of a Marine and the neck of a linebacker - and two of the thicker legs to come out of Texas since Earl Campbell. The menu includes catfish, corn dogs and peach cobbler. Koby Clemens isn't getting too far with it, as a constant stream of folks come up to get an autograph or a photo, or to shake the hand of an 18-year-old with one of the biggest baseball names around, and the same number 22 his father wears. The catfish, he decides, can wait. "He was besieged by everyone, and he handled it so well," says Johnny Mosley, an associate pastor of the church. "He was very polite. He smiled and accommodated everyone. I'll tell you what: I couldn't have done that when I was 18." There are a lot of raves going around town for Koby Clemens, the oldest of Roger and Debbie Clemens' four boys. Eight weeks after the Houston Astros, his hometown team and father's employer, selected him in the eighth round of the free-agent draft, three weeks after he decided to pass on the scholarship offered him by the University of Texas, Clemens is making the transition from Memorial High School to the Appalachian League (A) look as easy as sipping sweet tea. His first home run as a pro was a grand slam. His second was a three-run blast over the center-field fence of Pioneer Park, the Astros' handsome brick stadium on the campus of Tusculum College. He was hitting over .400 after two weeks, and though he has cooled off, is still hitting .327. The Greeneville Astros are young, and deep in last place in the league's Western Division, neither factor diminishing the early returns on the team's new, 5-11, 200-pound third baseman - a kid who wants no part of the pitcher's mound, never mind his bloodlines or that he threw three no-hitters this spring in high school. He has been clocked throwing 92-93 mph. "I hated pitching," says Clemens, smiling. He is sitting in a luxury suite 90 minutes before game time, wearing his pinstriped uniform pants and a snug black T-shirt. "I went out there and competed, but I dreaded it. I thought it took away from my hitting." He pauses and looks out toward the field. "I didn't think I was going to come out this hot right off the bat. I've started to catch reality now, which has been good for me. But I still feel pretty comfortable." Russ Nixon, a former big-league catcher, is the white-haired manager of the Greeneville Astros. There has been talk in the organization of moving Clemens behind the plate or to the outfield. Clemens' hitting stroke doesn't need much changing at all. At 70, Nixon has seen his share of prospects and says he has "very high expectations" for Clemens. "He's got lightning in the bat," Nixon says. "He can scald the ball. He's one month out of high school, and they can't throw the fastball by him." Jeremy York was the assistant baseball coach for Memorial this spring, before moving up to the head job. He watched Koby Clemens hit .523 with 10 homers and 55 RBI in his senior year, and deal with the biggest scare of his young athletic life 14 months ago, when doctors found a ruptured disc in his back and had to repair it surgically. It meant the end of his days as Memorial's tailback, a punishing runner who once clocked 4.5 in the 40. "Fortunately, he's got his mother's speed," Roger Clemens says, laughing. Says Koby, "When they told me what was wrong and that I wouldn't be able to play sports (during rehabilitation), it was like the whole room was getting dark," Clemens says. "I couldn't believe what I was hearing." According to York, Koby has the same drive and competitiveness as his father. The Clemenses have an indoor batting cage at home, and Koby is in there virtually every day. He's an avid weightlifter, and already has an aura of professionalism about him, says teammate Eli Iorg, the Astros' No. 1 pick this June and himself the son of a big-leaguer (Iorg's father, Garth, originally drafted by the Yankees, played nine years for the Blue Jays). "He's got an extreme advantage because he knows how to work, and how to get to the big leagues," says Iorg, 22. "It's awesome, what he's done so far." Koby Clemens knows there is no escaping the Hall-of-Fame lineage he comes from, or the power of his father's legend. It can fling open doors, but can also provoke jealousy and resentment. He took unrelenting flak from high-school bench jockeys. When he smacked a game-winning homer against an archrival in the Houston area, he even was serenaded with his first "Steroids, steroids" chant. "When you have my dad's name on your back, you might as well be wearing a bulls'-eye," Koby says. "I don't try to be Roger Clemens' son. I'm just trying to be Koby Clemens." His desire to create some separation is no doubt part of the reason for his aversion to pitching. When he introduces himself, he offers a firm handshake and says simply: "I'm Koby." Says Ryan Williams, Koby's 17-year-old roommate, "It's a not a big deal to him. He's just relaxed about it." Clemens and Williams share an apartment, and pass their time playing video games and poker. Who cooks? "Nobody," Williams says. "We go out to eat every night." The day Koby arrived, Roger flew in with him and stayed for six days. There's a new Super Wal-Mart in town, and on their first night in Tennessee, father and son did some shopping, Roger going up and down the aisles, tossing in food and snacks and games until the cart was overflowing. "My dad's like a little kid," Koby says. "He says, 'You're going to need some of this. You're going to need some of that.' It was crazy." Back at the ballpark, Roger had throwing sessions with the Greeneville catchers, talked shop with the pitchers and had his shoe sponsor deliver a truckload of new spikes for the whole team. Roger and Koby talk just about every night. The day Koby hit the grand slam, Roger was making an appearance for charity. His cell phone was set on vibrate. "It just about melted in my pocket it was ringing so much," Roger says. The calls were from Debbie Clemens, Roger's sister, and Koby. "He's on his way," Roger says. "And he hasn't done it on my coattails. As his dad, I'm just kicking back and watching. I'm happy for him. I'm surprised it's happening so fast." Koby has never been away from home this long. The day he left, his mother cried and hugged him, and said, "My little baby is a big boy now." The magnitude of the new phase of his life didn't hit Koby until he got in the cage as a pro ballplayer for the first time. His three K-carrying siblings - Kory, Kacy and Kody - were back home, and now Koby was on his own, going, as he says, "from being a big fish in a small pond to a small fish in a big ocean." Every night in the seventh inning of games in Pioneer Park, fans rise from their $6 seats, and the P.A. system plays "Rocky Top, Tennessee." The mascot does his Smoky Mountain jig on top of the Astros' dugout. It's another new experience in a summer that has been full of them for Koby Clemens, who's shown down-home charm and a live bat, and is completely content to let his father take care of the Cy Young department. "I think I've got it made pretty good as an 18-year-old coming out of high school," Koby Clemens says. "I'm getting to play a game I love and get paid for it." Humming a happier tune It wasn't hard to pick out Koby Clemens from his classmates at Memorial High School last spring. He was the star of the baseball team, and the only kid around driving a burnt-orange Hummer. The car was a gift from the Yankees to Roger Clemens, on the occasion of Roger's 300th victory. Roger let his oldest son drive it to school. Who would've figured it would turn into a crime statistic? One morning last March, Koby pulled up in front of Memorial, parked the Hummer and went to class. He didn't lock the car. A few periods later, his cell phone rang. His mother was calling, asking him where he was - and why his car wasn't in the lot. She accused him of skipping out of school, but Koby assured her he was in school, that his car was out front. At which point he went to look in the parking lot, and discovered his mother was right. The orange Hummer wasn't at school. It had been stolen. Police found it the following day, minus Koby’s wallet and his bat bag, which contained not only his favorite bat but his gloves. The CD player was intact, and so were other valuable items, but the bat bag was history. "What's up with that?" Koby says. He finished the high-school season using one of Roger's gloves, and vowing to be more careful about locking the car.
