Former USC star Clement waiting for his chance

The question isn’t ifJeff Clement will play in the major leagues on a permanent basis, it’s when.

Clement, the third overall pick in the 2005 draft by the Seattle Mariners from USC, is considered one of the top power-hitting prospects in baseball. The problem is that there isn’t room for him with the big club, so he is back for his second season with the Tacoma Rainers.

Seattle wants Clement, a left-hand hitting catcher, to play every day, but that won’t happen with the Mariners as long as Kenji Johjima is blocking his path. How about designated hitter? Well, the Mariners are set there too with Jose Vidro.

The 6-foot-1, 215-pound Clement is certainly doing his part with the Rainers. After 18 games, he’s batting .367 (22 for 60) with four homers and 13 runs batted in. His on-base percentage is .500 and his slugging percentage is .650.

Baseball America’s projected 2010 Mariners lineup includes Clement, but as the designated hitter, not catcher. That spot will still belong to Johjima.

Clement, 24, has already shown he can hold his own in the majors. The Mariners brought him up on Sept. 4 and he appeared in nine games, including three starts as the designated hitter. He batted .375 (six for 16) with two homers and three RBIs.

He hit his first major league home run on Sept. 26 against the Cleveland Indians, a solo shot in the ninth inning off closer Joe Borowski. He hit a walk-off homer on Sept. 28 against the Texas Rangers, a two-run shot off Mike Wood.

With the Rainers last season, Clement played in 125 games (74 at catcher, 51 as designated hitter) and batted .275. He was third on the team with 20 homers, 35 doubles and 80 RBIs, and fourth with 76 runs. Interestingly, he batted .315 against left-handers and .259 against right-handers.

He threw out 27% of baserunners attempting to steal (20 of 74), which ranked seventh among PCL catchers with at least 72 games, and had a .994 fielding percentage (three errors in 516 chances).

Clement is a bona fide power hitter. He set a national high school record at Marshalltown (Iowa) High with 75 career home runs, and is second on USC’s all-time list with 46 (Mark McGwire hit 54). He earned 2005 Baseball America All-America first team, USA Today Sports Weekly All-America first team and Collegiate Baseball All-America first team honors. He was rated by Baseball America as the best power hitter among college prospects.

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It hasn’t been the best of seasons for Eric Munson, another former USC catcher, who had hoped to earn a spot with the Milwaukee Brewers as Jason Kendall’s backup.

Munson batted .333 during spring training, but the Brewers gave the job to Mike Rivera, who batted .286.

Brewers Manager Ned Yost thought Rivera had the edge defensively. Rivera also had the advantage of spending the last three seasons with the Nashville Sounds, where he caught Brewers pitchers Manny Parra, Carlos Villanueva and Yovani Gallardo.

On March 26, Munson cleared waivers and was sent to Nashville. He played six games and batted .100 (two for 20) with no RBIs before suffering an injury during an April 10 game against Oklahoma City. He was put on the disabled list two days later.

Munson, the third overall pick in the 1999 draft by the Detroit Tigers, is in his 10th professional season. The Brewers are his fourth organization. He has spent all or parts of the last eight seasons in the majors, including stints with Detroit (2000-04), Tampa Bay (2005), and Houston (2006-07). The Brewers claimed him off waivers from the Astros on Oct. 15.

Last season Munson played 50 games with Round Rock (33 at catcher, 15 at first base) and 50 games with the Astros. He batted .283 with seven homers and 26 RBIs for the Express and threw out 33.3% of baserunners attempting to steal (13 of 39).

He made 36 starts with the Astros, batting .235 with four homers and 15 RBIs. He threw out only three of 29 runners attempting to steal (10.3%).

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Josh Muecke started his season at triple-A Round Rock (Texas) on a winning note by beating the Iowa Cubs, 4-2, on April 4. He pitched the first five innings, yielding one run and three hits while striking out five. He did not walk a batter.

Muecke, a left-hander who was the Astros’ third-round pick in 2003 from Loyola Marymount, is winless in three starts (two losses) since then with a 5.06 earned-run average in 16 innings. He yielded 16 hits and nine earned runs. In all, he is 1-2 with a 4.29 ERA. In 21 innings, he has yielded 19 hits and 12 runs (10 earned) while striking out 16 and walking five. Opposing batters are hitting .232 against him.

Muecke spent last season with Corpus Christi of the double-A Texas League. He made 32 appearances – 16 starts – and went 9-5 (he was 0-7 with the Hooks in 2006). His ERA of 3.90 was eighth best in the league.

He also pitched for Mesa of the Arizona Fall League and had a 1.56 ERA in 17 1/3 innings.

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Through his first five appearances this season, Paul Kometani, a short reliever for the Oklahoma RedHawks, was 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA. In 5 2/3 innings, he gave up three hits and one run.

But in his last two outings, covering 1 1/3 innings, the right-hander yielded three hits and three runs. He faced a total of 10 batters and made 42 pitches (22 strikes). He’s still 2-0, but his ERA ballooned to 5.14.

Kometani, the Texas Rangers’ 15th pick in 2005 from Pepperdine, pitched in the Texas League with Frisco. He made 39 appearances – six starts – with the Roughriders and was 3-4 with eight saves and a 4.27 ERA.

Kometani split the 2006 season between Bakersfield of the Class-A California League and Frisco. He was a combined 12-7 with a 4.13 ERA in 27 games, all but one starts. His 12 wins tied for the most among the organization’s minor leaguers.

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Josh Whitesell, another Loyola Marymount product, is the first baseman for the Tucson Sidewinders. The Arizona Diamondbacks claimed him off waivers from the Washington Nationals on March 14. He was the Montreal Expos’ sixth-round pick in the 2003 draft.

Whitesell is batting .283 with three homers and eight RBIs through 17 games. He spent last season at Harrisburg of the double-A Eastern League, where he batted .284 with 21 homers and 74 RBIs in 119 games.

“Minor League Spotlight” is a weekly web-exclusive feature that appears Fridays.