Kody Clemens Has Become A Bona Fide Threat On the Base Paths

Minneapolis – Before he joined the Minnesota Twins organization just about a year ago, Kody Clemens wasn’t a player opposing pitchers had to worry about too much on the base paths.

Now, that’s no longer the case. Since the Twins gave all of their players the green light to steal bases each night last August, Kody Clemens has gone 8-for-12 in stolen base attempts over 56 games. Before Aug. 3, he had only one career stolen base in 218 career games.

His 3-for-5 in stolen base attempts has made him the team leader early in the season, tied with Luke Keaschall. While Clemens may not remain the team leader as the season progresses, his increased aggressiveness on the base paths is a testament to the Twins' green-light approach working for the unlikeliest of base stealers.

“I think Grady Sizemore is doing a really good job of encouraging our group to run and picking the counts to run and paying attention to the counts to run,” said Twins manager Derek Shelton. “And I think we talked about it in Spring Training that we’re going to be aggressive. We’ve seen throughout our game that guys that are good baserunners have the ability to steal bases. I’ve been really pleased with Kody doing that.”

“I mean, it’s just trying to get good, quality jumps, time the pitcher up, seeing what his tendencies are, and stuff like that,” Clemens said on the key to his early-season success on the base paths. “Making sure you get a good lead and most importantly, get a good jump.”

Rocco Baldelli and the previous coaching staff gave everyone the green light on the base paths following the 2025 trade deadline. Coming into spring training, Shelton and base-running coach Grady Sizemore felt it was important to carry over this season, in more than just a base-stealing aspect.

They want the players to get better reads on going from first to third on hits to the outfield, and to taunt pitchers enough to force them to make a third pick-off attempt. So far, it’s been working in their first 16 games, and the team doesn’t want to let up.

“It’s great. I’m glad they carried it over,” said Clemens. “I think there’s a lot of guys on this team that can steal bags, and I think it’s the same way I feel being comfortable, getting the green light, and now that everyone else has it for the most part. They feel comfortable as well with stealing.”

“I think we want guys to be aggressive and guys to put pressure on opposing defenses,” said Sizemore. “So we’re taking all of our guys, regardless of where they’re at from a base-stealing standpoint, and telling them that we want to push, we want to be aggressive, and there’s going to be a time and a place.”

At the rate Kody Clemens is stealing over his first nine games this season, he could turn himself into a 20/20 player this season. It’s a long shot. Still, with how he’s been running on the base paths early this season, Clemens is showing there’s much more to his game than the breakout power in his swing that came to light last season.

“I think it’s an awesome attribute to have as a player,” Clemens said. “Everybody loves a guy who steals bags. Not many people do anymore. Once we got the aggressiveness starting from last year, it’s been nice to feel free on the base paths, know you can like go if you want, and there’s not very many repercussions for getting thrown out.”

“Sometimes it’s just that, just trying to be more aggressive,” said Sizemore. “I think Kody’s a great athlete; he’s got good instincts out there. So I think we’re just trying to pull from that. It depends on the situation, obviously, and where we’re at in the game. But we’re trying to push it.”