Power Is Hendrik Clementina’s Calling Card

It didn’t take long for catcher Hendrik Clementina to make an impression on his new organization. In his first batting practice last year for Rookie-level Billings, he crushed ball after ball.

One veteran scout took time to text a reporter that there was real power in the bat of Clementina, whom the Reds had acquired from the Dodgers for reliever Tony Cingrani last July.

The results on the field weren’t quite as good. Clementina went 1-for-17 in his first five games in the Pioneer League after hitting .370 for the Dodgers’ affiliate in Ogden.

He recovered from his slow start to bat .303/.371/.457 overall with six home runs in 51 games.

The 20-year-old Clementina hit well through 39 games this season at low Class A Dayton—.341/.414/.652 with nine homers—mirroring his hot start in 2017.

The native of Curacauo—he signed with the Dodgers in 2013—carries a big bat in part because he’s a big man at 6 feet, 250 pounds. 

Considered raw defensively, Clementina has shown the Reds good hands and has impressed with his intelligence behind the plate. That also shows up at the plate, where he has an advanced approach to go with the huge power.

In his first full-season experience, Clementina had walked as many times in 39 games as he did in 51 games in Rookie ball last season (17).

Clementina ranked fourth in the Midwest League with nine homers and will start as DH for the Eastern Division at the league’s all-star game.

> Top prospect Nick Senzel missed about a month with vertigo, a repeat of the illness that ended his 2017 prematurely. The team hopes it has it under control.

> SS Alfredo Rodriguez(^) returned from a hamate injury and was sent from Double-A Pensacola to high-A Daytona.