TORONTO — Ernie Clement wasn’t supposed to be there. The prospect infielder, just two years into his professional career, was a late invite to Cleveland’s big-league spring training in 2019.Clement was called in as an injury replacement for young shortstop Francisco Lindor. With Cleveland in need of another body days before spring drills began, clubhouse attendants ushered Clement over to the big-league locker room and pointed him to the office door of manager Terry Francona.“Introduce yourself,” they said.Clement had played just 147 minor-league games to that point, peaking in Double A. He hadn’t yet been designated for assignment, released, refound and beloved. He was raw and, admittedly, naive.Francona was in the back room of his office, Clement was told, so he walked into the small room and opened the wooden door beside the manager’s desk. There was Francona, pants around his ankles and sitting on the toilet of his office washroom. Clement was aghast. He still doesn’t know why his initial instinct was to walk up to Francona, hold out his arm and shake the manager’s hand, but that’s what he did. It was all a blur.“Oh my God, I was mortified,” Clement said. “He was dying laughing.”Francona instantly fell in love with the young infielder’s inexplicable confidence. It’s something Clement, through three MLB stops and years of failure, never lost. It’s what’s led him from cast-off bench piece to key contributor and postseason hero for the Toronto Blue Jays. It’s led him, now, to his first All-Star Game, where he’ll start for the American League on July 14 in Philadelphia after earning more votes than Yordan Alvarez, Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr. and every other AL star.“Believing in myself the way I do,” Clement said, “I’m always ready for these opportunities. My mindset’s never changed.”As Ernie Clement put it, “I’ve been released, I’ve been optioned more times than I can count.” (Kevin Sousa / Getty Images)Clement, then a 22-year-old fourth-round pick with mediocre minor-league results, had essentially no shot of cracking Cleveland’s roster. Yet he took every practice rep with his “hair on fire,” minor-league teammate Mike Papi said, and “sprinted all over the ballpark.” In 29 spring at-bats, he notched seven hits, hit a homer and stole a base. He struck out just once.