Marshalltown’s Clement signs big league deal for big bucks

Marshalltown native Jeff Clement reached a deal with the Seattle Mariners over the weekend and signed a contract on Tuesday containing a reported three-MILLION dollar signing bonus. Clement spent most of his time in Marshalltown and visited his brother who is a coach in the Cape Cod League after his last organized game of baseball in June when his college career at USC ended. Clement is an all-American, winner of the Johnny Bench Award and a Golden Spikes finalist. Bob Fontaine, the Mariners’ scouting director, says Clement was a good match with the organization.Benny Looper, a Mariners scout, says Clement’s been assigned to the Everett Aquasox, a class-A franchise, based about 30 miles from Seattle. Clement says he’s ready to play now after the high he was on during a single week in June. “You know at USC my freshman and sophomore year we weren’t as good as we would have liked so this past season to win the regional, be getting ready for the superregional and then having the draft in the middle of that, it was about the most exciting week I’ve ever had,” Clement says. “I couldn’t have scripted it better.” The Mariners plan to have Clement play in the Arizona instructional league in September and the fall Arizona league. Clement was the number-three overall pick in the June draft.