Wes Clements
|
Wes Clements was perhaps the best player in the early 80's Astros farm system never to get a major league at bat. Before his release from the Astros organization after the 1984 season, Clements had put together quite an impressive string of minor league seasons. In 1980, his first year of pro ball, he tied for the Orange Gulf Coast lead in average and was named a league All-Star at first base. | The following year, at Daytona Beach, he led the 1981 Florida State League champions in hits with 123, RBI's with 83, and homers with 19. The 19 homers was also good enough to lead the entire FSL. Mysteriously, Clements was not named to the League All Star team at first base: Bob Ferris of the Fort Myers Royals--who hit 5 points higher with 17 fewer RBI and 5 fewer homers--somehow got the nod. Clements again led his club in a triple crown stat for 1982, when he hit .313 to pace Matt Galante's Columbus Astros squad. He was second to John Csefalvay in homers with 14, and was fourth on the club to Simon Rosario, Csefalvay, and Ruben Robles in RBI, for the second-best hitting club in the Southern League that year. Clements played at AAA Tucson in 1983, and although the average was down, he had another good power year, his .256 average being good for 89 RBI and 20 homers with the highest club in the 'Stros chain. During his last year, Clements spent time both at Columbus and at Tucson, combining for 84 RBI and 22 homers. But the average had stayed down, and it may have been for this reason that the Astros let Clements go. Clements continued to play minor league ball for five more years, seemingly finishing at Yucatan of the Mexican League in 1989, before attempting a comeback with Aguascalientes of the same league in 1995, at the age of 39. Overall, in 11 seasons in the minors, without a single major league at bat, Clements hit 173 homers and drove in 664. |