Middletown, R.I., native Alex Clemmey committed to Vanderbilt University before ever throwing a pitch at the high school level.
Not bad for a player who lost his freshman season to the pandemic.
Clemmey, a rising Bishop Hendricken sophomore, will follow in the footsteps of a slew of talented New England natives who played college ball under Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin, a native of Wolfeboro, N.H. Tyler Beede (Auburn, Mass.), Rhett Wiseman (Mansfield, Mass.), Ben Bowden (Lynn, Mass.), Will Toffey (Barnstable, Mass.) and Mike Yastrzemski (Andover, Mass.), Adam Ravanelle (Sudbury, Mass.) and Jackson Gillis (Wilmington, Mass.) have all followed a path from New England to Vanderbilt to pro baseball in recent years.
That Clemmey committed to join the Vanderbilt list of New Englanders as a rising sophomore is a bit of a surprise considering he was relatively unknown by college recruiters as early as February, when he started working with John DeRouin and Matt Hopkins at Hope's Athletic Performance in Coventry, Mass. Clemmey, a 6-foot-4, 170-pound lefthander, started a structured strength and conditioning plan, along with a nutrition program, and quickly made a name for himself during a pandemic.
