Clement swings through minors

He grew up a couple of hours from the fictional "Field of Dreams" of movie fame in Iowa, and Tacoma catcher Jeff Clement's baseball career has played out like a Hollywood script so far.

Born and raised in the small town of Marshaltown, Iowa, Clement -- who went 2-for-5 with a double in the Rainiers' 8-5 win over the 51s on Tuesday at Cashman Field -- honed his powerful swing through countless hours of work in the batting cage with his father, who guided the Marshaltown Little League team led by his All-America son to the 1996 Little League World Series.

Clement slugged 75 home runs at Marshaltown High School to break former New York Yankees third baseman Drew Henson's national high school career record (70) and led his team to the state title his senior year.

The 6-foot-1-inch, 210-pounder, who bats left-handed and throws right, continued his home run tear at the University of Southern California, where he finished with 46 homers, eight shy of Mark McGwire's career mark (54).

Clement, who also played for the U.S. national team while with the Trojans, was named a first team All-American as a junior and also won the Johnny Bench Award, given to the nation's top collegiate catcher.

The Seattle Mariners selected Clement with the third overall pick of the 2005 draft. He has been on the fast track to the majors since then, reaching Triple A in his first full season last year, when he was rated Seattle's top prospect.

Clement, who hit his second grand slam of the season on Aug. 21 to celebrate his 24th birthday, is rated Seattle's second-best prospect this year and its top power hitter.

He's batting .273 with 33 doubles and 76 RBIs in 120 games this season.

"It's great to be able to move this fast and have some success at this level," Clement said. "I have the ability to play at the highest level, but it's all about being more consistent, and that's what I'm working on right now."

Tacoma manager Daren Brown said Clement's work ethic is incredible.

"We all know about his tools. He has shown great power this year, and he has shown the ability to hit for average as well," he said. "But more than anything is the amount of time he puts in every day to try to get himself better. It's almost to the point where sometimes we have to back him off, because he feels every minute he's at the ballpark he can be doing something to get better."

Clement said his power stroke stems from his early work with his father.

"I wore my dad out in the cage every day," he said. "I think I just developed a good swing and continued to get stronger through hitting that much."

• NOTES -- 51s outfielder Delwyn Young was named to the 2007 All-Pacific Coast League team. Young is third in the league with a .335 batting average and first with 102 runs scored and 50 doubles.