The Indians made it official yesterday afternoon, Mike Clevinger will be making his big league debut against the Reds in tonight’s game. Clevinger is being called up to replace the struggling Cody Anderson who has been awful in nearly every one of his 7 outings this season. Through 7 games and 6 starts, Anderson posted a dreadful 7.99 ERA with an equally terrible 6.46 FIP. These inflated numbers are largely due to an astoundingly high home run rate. Anderson is giving up 2.76 home runs per nine innings this season, on top of that 22.7% of his fly balls allowed have gone for home runs, both numbers represent some of the worst rates in all of baseball. This has obviously been a disappointing beginning to the season for Anderson, who was looking to capitalize on what was a good half of a season of play.
However, while it’s disappointing, it shouldn’t necessarily come as a surprise. Anderson’s season in 2015 showed clear signs of being unsustainable. His ERA was 3.05 while his FIP was 4.27 and his xFIP was 4.58. His BABIP was an unsustainably low mark of .237, when typically league average falls around .300. To go on top of that, his success last season was accomplished with a 4.34 K/9 rate, putting him in company with Deadball Era pitchers.
This isn’t meant to kick Cody Anderson when he’s down. I like Anderson and believe he can be a successful pitcher in the major leagues, but these indicators that were apparent last season show that he needs more seasoning in the lower levels. Anderson made 10 starts in AA in 2015 before being called up to AAA, where he made just 3 starts before being called up to Cleveland. That’s not a lot of time for someone who wasn’t very polished when he was initially acquired. I wish Cody the best in Columbus and I hope he bounces back strong.
Replacing Anderson is one of the Indians’ best pitching prospects and the organization’s best head of hair. Since being stolen from the Angels in return for Vinnie Pestano, Clevinger has been one of, if not the, organization’s best minor league pitcher. In his first full season last year Clevinger posted tremendous numbers in 26 starts in AA and 2 in AAA during the Clippers’ run to the Governor’s Cup. In those 26 starts in Akron, Clevinger struck out 8.26 batters per nine innings, walked just 2.28, while limiting the long ball to the tune of 0.46 HR/9; all this accompanied by a 2.73 ERA and 3.02 FIP. In 7 starts so far this season in Columbus he’s been just as good. He’s increased his strikeout rate to 9.08 batters per nine and he’s continuing to keep the ball in the park with a 0.50 HR/9 even though he’s now pitching in a very hitter-friendly park in Columbus. His ERA is a strong 3.02 and his FIP is equally solid at 3.30, though it’s slightly inflated due to a higher walk rate of 4.29. His walk rate is of some concern, but if he continues to make batters swing and miss and limits the home runs it can balance out in his favor.
While Clevinger is slated to receive more than just a spot start, it’s not certain just how long he’ll be in an Indians’ uniform this season. With Anderson’s struggles he’s the next best option, however, the recent strong play of Trevor Bauer makes it all the less certain that Clevinger will stick around once Carlos Carrasco returns from his stint on the DL. A stint that may not last very much longer as he has recently begun throwing and by all indications he is far ahead of the original time table that was set for his return. Regardless, Clevinger could be a middle of the rotation starter for the Indians for many years to come and any time a talented young arm gets a chance to show what he can do against the big boys it’s exciting to watch.
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