Blast from the past: Blue Jays select 1B Kacy Clemens in the 8th round

With the 249th pick in the 2017 MLB Draft, the Blue Jays went with a name that should be plenty familiar to Blue Jays fans. 20 years and 8 months to the day after signing Rogers Clemens to what was then a record free agent deal, the Jays drafted his son Kacy, a senior first baseman out of the University of Texas.

Clemens was a highly ranked pitcher out of high school four years ago, however arm issues resulted in a full-time conversion to first base two years ago. He's actually emerged as a solid hitter, leading Texas with a .305/.414/.532 line in 2017, with 12 home runs.

This further adds to the collection of Blue Jays prospects with strong MLB bloodlines, joining Bo Bichette (Dante), Cavan Biggio (Craig) and Vladdy Guerrero Jr. (Sr.). Ironically, if one were to line up the fathers in terms of MLB careers, the sons would be almost inverse in terms of curent prospect status.

For Kacy Clemens is essentially an org guy, and this is (or should be) a senior sign to save a bunch of slot money in their draft pool. He'll probably go to Vancouver. In 2012, the Blue Jays signed another Clemens, Koby, who spent most of the year in Las Vegas. That makes for 3 of the 5 Clemens...and Kody is draft eligible next year.

Some of their pick immediately preceding this should have also saved some money, so the question is what is this money for. Are the Jays going to make a splash tomorrow, or is it to pay some players drafted yesterday overslot?

In case you're wondering, this is how I felt when the pick was announced (just substitute "Kacy" for "Roger" and....I don't know, Shapiro? for "George"):