Clevinger’s sunshine returns as Padres launch into spring
PEORIA, Ariz. — The spring seemed destined to become “Sunshine” Mike Clevinger's time to, well, shine. A playoff run under his belt. Time to grow more comfortable with teammates and surroundings. The front-line pitching pearl harvested at the Padres' dizzying trade deadline, poised to become mound maestro of the most anticipated 162game march in franchise history.
Clevinger, with a mane straight out of “Dazed and Confused” and leg whip like a World Cup striker, delivered needed playoff experience from the Indians' 2016 World Series run and trips to the AL Division Series against the Yankees and Astros.
He was the organization's get-over-the-top guy, its send-a-messageguy, its line-up-behindhim guy. Then came Sept. 23 and a 12-pitch, 1-2-3 inning against the Angels at Petco Park. An elbow injury later led to his second Tommy John surgery and a tricky decision to sit out one of his final two seasons before free agency.
So much has happened since Clevinger and his disarming smile occupied the lofty perch. The team added headline-grabbing arms Yu Darvish and Blake Snell, while signing shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. to the longest and third-richest contract in the history of baseball. It shelled out more than $33 million to acquire
Ha-seong Kim, the top available player from Korea.
Now, the Padres are everyone's flavor of the spring. They're basking in the … sunshine.
“It's really disappointing, both of those,” Clevinger, 30, said Wednesday of missing the end of the postseason and the enormous season to come. “I don't like looking at the glass half empty. I'm not that kind of guy. I'm just looking at what kind of beast we're going to be when I get back.”
See Clevinger, soak up his words, and there is not an ounce of deflation or regret. He refuses to bemoan what has been lost at the expense of focusing on what might come.
Make no mistake. Clevinger wants to be out there like a school kid wildly pedaling his bike to a sandlot game with a glove threaded through the handlebars and baseball cards thwap-thwapthwaping in the spokes. That road has been altered.
So, Clevinger imagines a new road.
“This team we're a part of, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said. “It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance that you get in your career. You're not going to have this much talent in one room for a set amount of years, I don't think anywhere across the league.
“… I'm looking forward to getting back and getting back with these guys.”
The Padres caught just the briefest glimpse
of what Clevinger might become in pandemicshortened 2020. After the move to San Diego, he was on a career-best pace for walks and hits per innings pitched (0.895), walks per nine innings (1.4) and home runs allowed per nine (0.5).
Clevinger was blowing away his top strikeoutto-walk ratio with a 6.33, sprinting well past his 4.57 with the Indians in 2019. He was crafting his best fielding independent pitching rate of 2.35. That metric, ESPN explains:
“What the pitcher's ERA should be, if the defense behind him turned batted balls into outs at a major league average rate.”
Shorthand for all of it: Good, good and more good.
Until, Sept. 23 and the Angels.
The injury limited Clevinger to just four games and 19 innings pitched in his new uniform, after three seasons throwing at least 121 2/3 innings — and 200 innings in 2018. The start with the Padres offered a tantalizing taste, but nowhere close to a full and revealing meal.
“I felt like I was just on the cusp of really reaching my potential and getting that extra year to even separate myself even more,” Clevinger said. “So, I just have a
year to kind of hone in on that.”
Manager Jayce Tingler said Clevinger has not quarantined himself in the trainer's office or cold tub. He's hanging around as teammates throw bullpens, engaging and remaining as connected as a fresh tendon will allow.
Clevinger's confidence was not designated for the injury list.
“I felt like we matched up just fine with them last year,” said Clevinger, when asked how the Padres stack up against the NL West gold standard, the Dodgers. “I think this year there should be no doubt in anyone's mind that when we go on that field we have every bit of personnel on this side of the field to beat them.
“I think everyone has that mindset.”
Playfully asked to assume the role of manager and slot himself into the star-studded rotation that includes Darvish (2020 NL Cy Young runner-up), Snell (2018 AL Cy Young winner) and Dinelson Lamet (No. 4 in most recent NL Cy Young voting) and the possible arrival of top-rated prospect Mackenzie Gore, he paused.
The opening day mound could be crowded.
“We have seven No. 1s over here, seven No. 1s in the making,” Clevinger said. “I'd say we're all No. 1s. That's a tough one. I just want the ball every day. I think these guys are the same way.”
That trademark smile returned.
Those rays of sunshine, it seems, could be well worth the wait.