San Francisco Giants (1988–1995) Prior to the
1988 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft, the
MLB Scouting Bureau named Clayton one of the 25 best amateur American
prospects. In 1988, Clayton hit .259 with 30
runs batted in (RBIs), and 10
stolen bases in 60 games for Everett. Starting the 1989 season with the
Clinton Giants of the
Class A Midwest League, Clayton struggled initially, batting below .200 by the end of May. After batting .310 in June and July, Clayton earn a promotion to the
San Jose Giants of the
Class A-Advanced California League on July 29. He batted .120 and 10 stolen bases in 28 games for San Jose after the promotion. Clayton returned to San Jose in 1990, where he batted .252 in the first half. He delivered the game-winning hit in the California League's
all-star game. In 1991, Clayton played for the
Shreveport Captains of the
Double-A Texas League. Clayton played in the Texas League All-Star Game. He batted .280 with 68 RBIs and 36 stolen bases during the 1991 season, and
The Sporting News named him the best prospect in baseball. After the Texas League's season ended, the Giants promoted Clayton to the major leagues for their final road trip of the season. He made his major league debut on September 20. Clayton batted .115 (3-for-26) in nine games. He arrived to
spring training in 1992 having added muscle, increasing his weight from . The Giants named Clayton to their
Opening Day roster in 1992 as their starting shortstop. After Clayton batted .207 for the Giants through June 20, the Giants demoted him to the
Phoenix Firebirds of the
Triple-A Pacific Coast League. Clayton batted .237 in 43 games for Phoenix, and was recalled to the major leagues on August 19 when Uribe went on the
disabled list with a torn muscle in his rib cage. Between both stints with the Giants in the 1992 season, Clayton batted .224 in 98 games. He earned $109,000, the major league's minimum salary, for the 1992 season. Before the 1993 season, Clayton signed a one-year contract with the Giants worth $155,000. He batted .282 in 153 games, tied
Chris Speier's franchise record of 70 RBIs for a shortstop, and led all
National League shortstops with 103
double plays turned. After the 1993 season, the Giants offered Clayton a four-year contract worth $9.2 million, but he declined. Clayton signed a contract worth $325,000 for the 1994 season. Clayton and several of his teammates struggled in 1994; he batted .236 with 30 RBIs. The Giants made an offer of a two-year contract after the 1994 season, which Clayton rejected. He also recorded 223
putouts, 411
assists, and 654
total chances, the most among all National League shortstops.
Rich Aurilia was ready to become the Giants' starting shortstop and the team needed to improve their depth of pitchers. He was 41 years old and only batted .199 in 44 games during the 1995 season due to a shoulder injury. Cardinals manager
Tony La Russa and
general manager Walt Jocketty sought to acquire another shortstop as insurance in case Smith could not compete. They attempted to sign
Walt Weiss and
Greg Gagne, but neither wanted to play in a
platoon with Smith, an all-time great. The Giants traded Clayton and a
player to be named later to the
St. Louis Cardinals for
Doug Creek,
Rich DeLucia, and
Allen Watson on December 14, 1995. The Giants sent
Chris Wimmer to the Cardinals in January 1996 to complete the trade. Eligible for
salary arbitration for the first time, Clayton signed a $1.6 million contract with St. Louis for the 1996 season, more than tripling his 1995 salary. In his first year as the Cardinals' manager,
Tony La Russa announced that Smith and Clayton would compete for the starting job in spring training in 1996. Though Smith had better statistics during spring training than Clayton, La Russa gave Clayton the start on Opening Day and the majority of the playing time during the season. Cardinals' fans booed Clayton because they preferred Smith. Clayton batted .277 with 33 stolen bases and a .972
fielding percentage, the fourth-best among National League shortstops, in 129 games played. Smith announced in June that he would retire at the end of the season. The Cardinals reached the postseason; they defeated the
San Diego Padres in the
1996 National League Division Series and lost to the
Atlanta Braves in the
1996 National League Championship Series. Clayton had a .346 average during the 1996 postseason. After failing to come to terms on a multi-year contract, Clayton and the Cardinals agreed to a one-year, $2.6 million contract for the 1997 season. He was selected to the
1997 MLB All-Star Game as an injury replacement for
Barry Larkin. At the time, he was batting .261 with six home runs and 19 stolen bases, and had already exceeded his 1996 season totals in RBIs and
extra-base hits with 36 and 31, respectively. Clayton batted .266 in 154 games in 1997. He led all National League shortstops with 452 assists. He began the season batting .234 in 90 games for the Cardinals.
Texas Rangers (1998–2000) With the Cardinals struggling during the 1998 season and Clayton due to become a
free agent after the season, the Cardinals traded Clayton and
Todd Stottlemyre to the
Texas Rangers for
Darren Oliver,
Fernando Tatís, and a player to be named later on July 31, 1998. Clayton batted. 288 in 133 games during the 1999 season, and the Rangers won the division again. The Rangers lost to the Yankees in the
1999 American League Division Series. In April 2000, Clayton and teammate
Chad Curtis got into a shoving match after Curtis insisted on turning off rap music that Clayton was playing when Curtis objected to the lyrics. In May, Clayton wrote a blog post calling out Curtis, and Rangers manager
Johnny Oates had them apologize to each other. Clayton batted .242 in 148 games for Texas in 2000. He also led all American League shortstops with 265 putouts. so the White Sox tried using him as their
center fielder for the 2001 season. Clayton struggled offensively in April and May of the 2001 season, batting .099, but he rebounded to hit .310 for the remainder of the season to finish with a .263 average in 135 games. Clayton batted .197 through the first 54 games of the 2002 season and was benched by White Sox manager
Jerry Manuel in early June, who increased
Tony Graffanino's playing time. Only a week later, Manuel returned Clayton to the lineup at shortstop, alternating playing time with Valentín and Graffanino. At the end of July, Manuel decided that Valentín would receive the majority of playing time at shortstop for the remainder of the season. The White Sox released Clayton on September 8. He batted .251 with seven home runs and 35 RBIs in 112 games during the 2002 season. On December 11, 2002, the
Milwaukee Brewers signed Clayton to a one-year contract worth $1.75 million for the 2003 season to succeed
José Hernández as their starting shortstop. The contract included a club option for the 2004 season. Clayton batted .228 with 11 home runs and 39 RBIs in 2003. The Brewers declined the $3 million option in Clayton's contract for the 2004 season, buying him out for $290,000 instead, making Clayton a free agent. in 2006
Later career (2004–2007) Clayton signed a minor league contract with the
Colorado Rockies for the 2004 season worth $650,000, and he made the Rockies' Opening Day roster as their starting shortstop. He hit .270 with eight home runs and 54 RBIs for the Rockies in 2004, and led all National League shortstops with a .986
fielding percentage. However, the Rockies did not re-sign Clayton, giving the 2005 shortstop role to
Clint Barmes. displacing
Alex Cintrón as the starting shortstop. Clayton batted .270 in 143 games for Arizona. On February 2, 2006, Clayton signed a minor league contract with the
Washington Nationals, who acquired him to serve as a backup to their incumbent starting shortstop,
Cristian Guzmán, who had struggled during the 2005 season. The contract called for Clayton to earn $1 million if he made the team and another $250,000 available through incentives based on his playing time. Guzmán tore a muscle in his shoulder during spring training, and Clayton opened the 2006 season as the Nationals' starting shortstop. He batted .269 in 87 games for Washington. On July 13, 2006, the Nationals traded Clayton,
Bill Bray,
Brendan Harris,
Gary Majewski, and
Daryl Thompson to the
Cincinnati Reds for
Austin Kearns,
Felipe López, and
Ryan Wagner. Clayton batted .235 in 50 games for the Reds after the trade. On November 29, 2006, Clayton signed a one-year contract worth $1.5 million with the
Toronto Blue Jays, who said that he would split playing time with
Aaron Hill and
John McDonald in the
middle infield. By June, Clayton lost playing time as the Blue Jays played Hill at second base and McDonald at shortstop. The Blue Jays released Clayton on August 8, 2007, after he batted .254 with one home run and 12 RBIs in 69 games. Clayton signed a minor league with the
Boston Red Sox on August 23, and they assigned him to the
Pawtucket Red Sox of the Class AAA
International League. He had a .143 batting average and three RBIs in seven games. They promoted him to the major leagues to provide infield depth behind starters
Dustin Pedroia and
Julio Lugo and backup
Alex Cora on September 1, when rosters expanded. Clayton wanted the chance to play for a team in contention for a playoff spot. The Red Sox were the 11th team that Clayton played for, tying the record for position players set by
Todd Zeile. In eight games for the Red Sox, Clayton batted 0-for-6. The Red Sox won the
2007 World Series. Clayton did not appear in the postseason, he received a
World Series ring at
Fenway Park in April 2008. After not receiving any contract offers, Clayton retired in March 2008. Clayton was a candidate for induction into the
Baseball Hall of Fame during the
2013 balloting but did not receive any votes. ==Post-playing career==