Cleveland Indians: Mike Clevinger Scratched From Triple-A Start; Headed to Cleveland?

Mike Clevinger Scratched From Minor League Start; Could He Be Headed to Cleveland?

It may not be a headlining move, but Cleveland Indians minor league pitcher Mike Clevinger was scratched from his minor league start today with the Columbus Clippers at seemingly the last minute.  The Clippers and Minor League Baseball released their Game Information earlier this morning from the Media Relations Department and it clearly states that Clevinger was to be the starting pitcher for the Clippers.

Instead of Clevinger taking the hill, Ross Detwiler, formerly with the Cleveland Indians and scheduled to start tomorrow via the same report, made the start in a game that began this morning and is still in progress as of this writing.  This move comes less than 24 hours after Cody Anderson struggled yet again with the big league club, giving rise to the question, could Clevinger be replacing Anderson in the rotation? 

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It makes sense on several levels. Anderson has struggled this year, posting a 7.99 ERA and 6.46 FIP (fielding independent pitching) in seven games (six starts) for the Indians. He was tagged for six runs in yesterday’s ballgame in just 4 1/3 innings of work.  Meanwhile, Clevinger, who is one of the Tribe’s top pitching prospects, has pitched very well for the Triple-A Columbus Clippers posting a 3.03 ERA and 3.30 FIP in seven starts.

The one slight snag in this scenario is that the last time Clevinger pitched was Wednesday, May 11th. Anderson’s next scheduled start was to be this Saturday, May 21st in Boston. If Clevinger is set to make that start, he’d be on nine days rest, five more than normal. That’s not to say he couldn’t make the start as he most certainly could. Josh Tomlin had even more rest earlier in the year due to rainouts and off days so not unheard of for starters to get this much rest. It would be a bit odd though to do that for Clevinger’s first big league start.Another option could be that Clevinger makes a start with the Cleveland Indians before Saturday with the rest of the Tribe rotation getting bumped back a day. Clevinger could potentially start tomorrow’s game in Cincinnati, for example, and only have an extra

Another option could be that Clevinger makes a start with the Cleveland Indians before Saturday with the rest of the Tribe rotation getting bumped back a day. Clevinger could potentially start tomorrow’s game in Cincinnati, for example, and only have an extra two days of rest, something that can regularly happen.

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The Indians will be making a roster move of some kind before first pitch tonight at 6:10 as they’ve said Lonnie Chisenhall is to be activated from the Bereavement List. The Tribe could send out Anderson and have an extra bench bat until they felt they needed a fifth starter such as Clevinger…

Stay tuned as we should find out if the Clevinger “scratch” has any deeper meaning or simply was a way to keep Detwiler on normal rest…

EDIT (1:08pm):  The Cleveland Indians have not made any official announcement, but we’ve gotten “unofficial word” that Mike Clevinger is indeed being called up to the big leagues. No word yet on when an announcement could be made but he’s no longer with the Clippers in Columbus.