Sugar Land Skeeters 2012: Roger Clemens Expected to Return to Baseball Mound

Aug 20, 2012 04:27 PM EDT

Roger Clemens will return to the mound after signing with the Sugar Land Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League and is expected to start for them on Saturday at home against Bridgeport Connecticut.

Clemens' agent Randy Hendricks said the pitcher's "fastball was clocked at 87 mph and four pitches were working, so everyone believes he can do it." He added that Clemens and Skeeters manager Gary Gaetti have been talking about this "for months."

"It is a fun thing, and let's just see how he does on Saturday night. That will determine if he pitches for them again," Hendricks said. "Roger wanted to see if he could still do it, and today's workout showed he is ready."

A winner of 354 games in 24 seasons, the 50-year-old Clemens hasn't played for a team since pitching for the New York Yankees in 2007.

He is set to appear on the Hall of Fame ballot going to voters in November, but if he appeared in a major league game, his Hall consideration would be pushed back five years.

Clemens will be appearing on the ballot for the first time, alongside fellow greats Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. They are four of the most prominent players to excel during baseball's steroids era of the late 1990s and into 2000.

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