Jays Roster Move: Clement Down, Eden Up

The Blue Jays made a roster move before today’s game:

• Ernie Clement was sent to Buffalo.
• Outfielder Cam Edan takes his space on the Jays roster.
• Mason McCoy has been DFAed.

Edan has played 131 games for the Bisons, hitting .257/.354/.333 with 3 home runs and 53 steals (caught four times), playing mostly CF. I’m imagining he will mostly pinch run.

He was #38 on our prospect list this last year (he wasn’t on this year’s list). Matt said:

Another 6th round pick a year later in 2019, Eden was selected out of Cal-Berkeley, where he had an uneven three year run. A solid starter in a major conference as a freshman, he slumped badly his second year before rebounding with a big junior year. He’s the younger brother of Chandler Eden, a significant pitching prospect out of high school who was an unsigned 17th round draftee of the Blue Jays out of junior college in 2015.

Eden had an unremarkable debut in Vancouver, playing mostly centrefield but hitting just .220/.292/.284 and not making much of an impression on me, Eden returned there in 2021 now at the high-A level to better results over the first two months before an injury in late-June sidelined him for the rest of the season.

The offensive line doesn’t jump off the page at .274/.382/.402, but the speed absolutely does. He stole 30 bases while only being caught twice, leading the league by a mile when he was hurt and only being surpassed by one other player near the end of the season. That translates to covering ground in the outfield, and he showed decent plate discipline.

Barring unforeseen further development, it’s quite unlikely Eden hits enough to profile as a regular. But the speed and the way it played give him a shot at a major league role, especially with expanded benches under the 26-man roster with limits on pitchers.

Clement had a nice start to his time with the Jays, hitting .425/.429/.575 after 22 games, but he’s had a .200/.200/.200 line in his last 7 and, of course, his playing time has dropped with Bo back.

Baseball America has named Davis Schneider the Jays Minor League Player of the Year. Later he will be named our major league player of the year.

Tonight’s lineup: