White Sox Recall Mike Clevinger

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen announced today that right-handed pitcher Mike Clevinger has been called up from Triple-A Charlotte. He will begin today’s game against the Rays. Dominic Leone was placed on 15-day injured list retroactive to May 5, due to lower back tightness.
Clevinger, 33, has over five years of major league service time – which prohibits him from being optioned back down without his consent – but due to a protracted free agency negotiation that ultimately concluded only early April with no formal deal being struck with either White Sox organization, Clevinger agreed to being sent down to their farm so he can prepare himself properly for starting duties.
Last week it was reported that the Sox would shuffle their rotation with Clevinger and Brad Keller taking on greater roles – yet who will get dropped is yet unknown. Youngsters Nick Nastrini and Jonathan Cannon made multiple starts for them but both have since been optioned back down to minor league. Erick Fedde has enjoyed stellar results so far with an earned run average of 3.46 while Garrett Crochet posted 5.31 but still maintained 32.3% strikeout rate and 5.5% walk rate that are both impressive numbers.
Michael Soroka currently owns an uninspiring 6.48 ERA to go along with unimpressive peripherals; although his 47.8% ground ball rate is quite respectable, 12.6% of batters faced have been walked while only 10.6% have been struck out. Chris Flexen boasts equally unimpressive numbers – 13.6% strikeout rate to 9.6% walk rate ratio but his 4.85 ERA makes up for it somewhat.
Soroka remains listed on MLB.com as tomorrow’s scheduled starter, while Flexen could go out again as Flexen will get another opportunity before being chosen as one of six Sox starters – Clevinger, Keller, Fedde and Crochet also remain options for consideration.
At 8-26 at this point, it’s evident that the Red Sox won’t compete this season; yet with Clevinger back as part of their rotation they may hope that his presence can serve as a stabilizing factor and perhaps set themselves up to become trade candidates over the summer.
Clevinger was an outstanding pitcher from 2017-20, posting 489 1/3 innings with a 2.96 ERA, 28% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate over 589 1/3 innings of pitching. Unfortunately, Tommy John surgery after 2020 altered this trajectory; and although his strikeout rate increased slightly to 20% last season and his ERA declined slightly (from 4.33 in 2022 to 3.77 currently), Clevinger still wasn’t back up to his pre-surgery levels of performance.
Last summer, when both Boston and Seattle Sox teams were selling players off, Clevinger could have been an attractive trade candidate; however his health may have played a factor. Right biceps inflammation forced him onto the injured list in mid-June before returning on July 27, just hours before trading deadline day. Furthermore, Clevinger went unclaimed due to having a $4MM buyout clause; any team claiming him may have needed to absorb this cost themselves before being eligible to claim him on waivers. Reports surfaced early 2023 of being subject to domestic violence investigation which could have caused him interest among teams within MLB; yet that investigation concluded earlier in March with no major punishment being meted out upon MLB from MLB itself imposed any further punishment upon Clevinger than just this factual data analysis can reveal.
This year’s contract for Clevinger includes a three million dollar base plus three million in incentives, so should he pitch well this summer the Sox would likely make him available through trades given their ongoing rebuild and poor track record.