Toronto Blue Jays infielder Ernie Clement just had his best season in the big leagues, and he may have another sport to thank for it.
In an appearance on “The Hobby Never Sleeps” podcast, Clement opened up about one of his favorite offseason activities.
“I think, honestly, my best workout that I do is playing hockey in the offseason,” the 29-year-old Clement said.
Having played for three seasons already with Toronto, Clement may have fallen more in love with the sport of hockey, given the city he represents. Canada will always be a hockey-first country, and Clement seems to share the same passion, to some extent.
Asked whether playing hockey has ever become a concern for the Blue Jays organization, Clement said that his contract doesn’t really stop him from lacing it up.
“There’s nothing in the contract about it,” Clement continued.
“It’s obviously a concern for them because if I get hurt, that would not be good for anyone. But with how I play out there, I treat it like a workout, and I’m not going digging into corners and being an idiot out there, but I’ve been doing it for the last few years, and it’s really helped me get ready for sprin,g and it’s a big reason why I’ve stayed healthy throughout the baseball season.”
During the 2025 MLB season, Clement slashed .277/.313/.398 with nine home runs and 50 RBIs in 157 games. He also posted a career-best bWAR of 4.3. Clement then became one of the Blue Jays’ top performers in the playoffs, where he even set a new single-postseason MLB record with a total of 30 hits, while batting .411/.416/.562.
