After the league announced the rosters for the 2026 MLB All-Star Game, Sports Illustrated’s Tony Liebert offered some compelling reasons as to why we must count Kody Clemens among this year’s snubs:
Clemens has played more than 12 games at second base, left field, right field and first base this season, and he has been an above-average defender at all three positions. He has been an incredibly valuable utility player for the Twins, and he has shown his offensive firepower with a current three-game home run streak.
He went on to compare Clemens’ offensive output to that of Travis Bazzana, presumably the Cleveland Guardians’ third All-Star, and argue that the Twins deserved three spots on John Schneider’s AL roster.
I wholeheartedly agree. Clemens’ offensive numbers support his selection almost as much as the intangibles. His everyday spot in Derek Shelton’s lineup has provided steady value, as well as some big moments in high-leverage situations:
An All-Star selection seems more than appropriate for a Twins player who has done just about anything and played anywhere his manager asks. His durability and flexibility anchor Minnesota’s AL-best offense. If it’s not good enough for an All-Star selection, I suppose it’s good enough for an All-Star snub.
With the second half of the season ahead and a stretch run likely to feature competitive play, Kody Clemens can play on and rest easy in the knowledge that he is the Twins’ first-half MVP.
DON’T CALL IT A BREAKOUT
To name 2026 as Clemens’ “breakout” season is to ignore the quality of his 2025 production. After the Philadelphia Phillies cut Clemens on April 23, 2025, he joined the Twins on April 26 and set about setting career-highs in eight major categories:
- At-bats: 342 (+203)
- Runs: 46 (+29)
- Hits: 74 (+32)
- Total bases: 151 (+100)
- Doubles: 12 (+3)
- Triples: 4 (+3)
- Home runs: 19 (+14)
- Runs batted in: 52 (+34)
(Note: Statistics collected from MLB.com and Fangraphs.com.)
He accomplished all of this in just 112 games (+25), acquired in-season by a new team, and asked to split his time between first base and the outfield. Then-manager Rocco Baldelli gave him more time, opportunity, and responsibility. Clemens took the offer to the house to the tune of a personal-best fWAR of 1.7 (+1.3).
In 2026, on pace to play 138 games, Clemens will establish new benchmarks in each of those categories, and more. He’s already within one tally of last year’s run, hit, and doubles totals in 45 fewer at-bats. He hurdled his doubles mark on June 6 (now has 18) and should set his new career high in home runs by the end of July.
In five categories (2B, 3B, HR, SLG, and OPS), Clemens ranks among the top 20 in the AL. If we want to make it dramatic: He’s one grand slam away from the same distinction in RBI.
More: His swings lead the Twins in exit velocity. In all of baseball over the last 30 days, only Junior Caminero has driven in more runs than Kody Clemens. 16 of them have come in his last 15 games (as of Sunday, July 12).
If 2025 built the forms of Clemens’ everyday place in a major league lineup, 2026 appears to be filling them with a concrete that could last for a fair few years.
VALUABLE
We need to acknowledge Josh Bell and Brooks Lee‘s contributions, whose 111 combined RBI account for a quarter of Minnesota’s total offense.
More important is Byron Buxton, Minnesota’s sole nationally recognized Olympian, who has delivered his signature thunderbolts when injuries allow him to play in his usual spot in the lineup.
Even after missing all but two games since June 28, he’s still 6th in baseball in home runs. His insistence that he wishes to remain at Target Field has provided a warm core of hope during a season bracketed by the 2025 fire sale and a tangible threat of a work stoppage in 2027.
To be clear: Buxton is the Twins’ very soul, a committed superstar who prides himself on playing in Minnesota. His long center-field shadow will join Puckett’s and Hunter’s when it’s time for him to hang up his glove.
All the same: In the first half of 2026, Kody Clemens has been Minnesota’s most valuable player.
His numbers at the bat consistently outperform league averages. His ability to play and make plays at five of the eight defensive positions has made it possible for younger players like Royce Lewis and Luke Keaschall to find their own place in the field and thus find quality at the plate. After seven years in the minor leagues and an uneven pair of stints in Detroit and Philadelphia, Kody Clemens has come to Minnesota and put fresh varnish on the utility bat vacated by the much-loved Willi Castro.
Clemens has exemplified a team-first mentality and demonstrated unselfish play in all elements of the game. He’s done everything his manager has asked of him, and done it well. His approach has led him to the best individual production of his career and perhaps his first All-Star snub (don’t give up hope yet!).
Going into the All-Star break, the Twins find themselves amid what is shaping up to be a three- or even four-team battle for the AL Central, and the chance to win the American League. No member of Minnesota’s roster has done more for that chance than first-half MVP Kody Clemens.
