Cleveland Indians running away with Mike Clevinger trade

Cleveland Indians running away with Mike Clevinger trade

Last season on August 31 the Cleveland Indians and San Diego Padres agreed to a trade that involved a total of nine players, seeing the Tribe receive six and the Padres get three. While the Padres acquired Mike Clevinger as the big name of the deal at the time, Cleveland is the one looking like the winners of the exchange at this point. In case you need a refresher, here’s what the entire trade looked like.

From the perspective of the Padres, Clevinger only pitched four games for the club before exiting during last year’s playoffs with an injury that resulted in him having Tommy John surgery and missing all of what will be the 2021 season. He did sign a extension, though, that will keep him in San Diego for 2022 at the very least.

As for Greg Allen, he played all of one game for San Diego during the 2020 season before becoming a free agent and signing with the New York Yankees. As a Padre, Allen went 0-for-1 in four plate appearances with two walks, a stolen base and a run scored.

The lack of production from Clevinger and Allen doesn’t make it hard for the Cleveland Indians to be winning this deal up to this point, but even so, the players that the Tribe received are playing rather well. Four of the six players have already made their debut in Cleveland and the other two are high on the prospect list and should make their mark in the relatively near future.

While Cleveland could use Clevinger right now in their rotation, the injury to Clevinger paired with the production of the players received by Cleveland in the deal make the trade seem like the Tribe are running away as the winners of the agreement less than a year later.

Josh Naylor

It was a bit of a rough start in Cleveland for Josh Naylor, slashing just .230/.277/.279 over 22 games with the Tribe in the back half of the 2020 season. However, the 23-year old is starting to settle in with Cleveland and looks like a steady contributor for the club.

So far during the 2021 campaign, Naylor has been able to improve at the plate with a slash line of .259/.303/.406 along with four home runs, nine doubles and 13 RBI. His stats at the plate have been solid in the lineup, especially against right-handed pitchers, but his versatility in the field has allowed him to see more playing time.

Originally, Naylor was predominately an outfielder when he came to Cleveland with Carlos Santana at first. However, this season the opportunity for Naylor to see time at first base has opened the door for him to have an expanded role. His defense might not be as strong as others on the team at the position, but he offers a better offense option to fill the role. He’s also managed to have just two errors at first as well as just two in the outfield.

Being so young, Naylor has shown a lot of potential with Cleveland. Having arbitration seasons through 2025, Naylor could be a key piece to the future of the Cleveland Indians as he continues to grow and progress through his career.

Cal Quantrill

Coming up through the minor leagues as a starter Cal Quantrill moved to the bullpen during the 2020 season, a change that has been for the better for the eighth overall pick of the 2016 MLB Draft. That’s right, he came from the same class as Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale and Zach Plesac.

After a 5.16 ERA during the 2019 season when he was mainly a starter for the Padres, Quantrill has watched his ERA improve over the last two seasons, now at 1.99 during the 2021 campaign. He’s appeared in 15 games and tossed a total of 22.1 innings, striking out 14 in the process.

As with any pitcher, there’s still things that Quantrill will need to work on. For example, he’s walked 11 batters so far this season, a number that could be improved for a reliever. In the overall picture, he’s been much better in Cleveland than he was with San Diego.

Given the current situation of the Tribe’s starting rotation, there’s a chance that Quantrill could be given another opportunity to be a starting pitcher. The team might opt to go a different route if they don’t want to risk undoing Quantrill’s progress, but it’s at least an option to consider.

Austin Hedges

While Roberto Perez is widely considered the best defensive catcher in baseball, having won back-to-back Gold Gloves, Austin Hedges isn’t a far cry from Perez’s ability. With Perez now being moved to the 60-day IL, the addition of Hedges is even more important now than when the deal was made.

Hedges isn’t going to knock your socks off at the plate. He’s a career sub-.200 hitter, but getting offensive production from any catcher is really just a plus. Hedges’ ability to be a solid defensive catcher and get pitchers through a game is what is more vital to the position, and he does that very well.

Having Perez and Hedges as the team’s two catchers when both are healthy give Cleveland the best defensive duo of catchers in the league. Even without Perez, the defensive aspect of the catcher position hasn’t missed a beat for the Tribe.

While his offensive hurts, his perfect fielding percentage is a nice trade-off behind the plate. The backup catcher is probably one of the more forgettable roster spots in the league and even more so in trades. But Hedges has more than shown his worth this year, making this trade all the better for the Cleveland Indians.

Owen Miller

The latest member of the deal to debut in the major leagues, Owen Miller debuted with the Cleveland Indians on Sunday after lighting it up in Columbus to start the 2021 season. While Miller’s debut wasn’t exactly one to remember, his high level of play in Triple-A makes him an intriguing player for the Tribe and the reason the front office made space for him on the 40-man roster to get him called up.

One position that Cleveland has struggled to find an answer for early in the season has been the shortstop spot. While Miller has been mainly a second baseman, he could be asked to move over to short in Cleveland with Cesar Hernandez entrenched at second. In his debut, Miller took the role of designated hitter following the move of placing Franmil Reyes on the IL. Unfortunately, he went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts.

Luckily, the potential for Miller is still there. He’s currently listed by MLB.com as the club’s No. 16 prospect in the organization. He also was able to put together a slash line of .406/.457/.609 over 16 games with the Columbus Clippers to begin the season.

The first game wasn’t what he hoped for, but there’s a whole career ahead of Miller. If he can start to catch on in Cleveland and hit the way he did for Columbus, he could be the hidden gem of the Clevinger trade.

Joey Cantillo

The final player from the Mike Clevinger trade is the 6-foot-4, 21-year old left-handed pitcher Joey Cantillo. A 16th round pick in the 2017 MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres, Cantillo is now the No. 22 prospect in the Cleveland Indians organization and one of only four left-handed pitchers on the list, and the highest ranked of those four.

Currently on the injured list, Cantillo has yet to pitch this season as a member of the Double-A Akron Rubberducks. However, his career numbers from the minors are rather promising for the young pitcher.

Over three seasons in the minors, Cantillo has a career 2.51 ERA with a 13-7 record and 221 strikeouts over 168.2 innings pitched, averaging 11.8 strikeouts per nine innings. He’s also walked only 55 batters, averaging just under three per nine. If he can continue to build on those numbers, he could very easily crack the majors in the next couple seasons.

One thing to monitor will be Cantillo’s usage. He’s only had one season where he pitched over 100 innings, being 111.2 during the 2019 campaign. For comparison, Shane Bieber tossed 214.1 innings during his 2019 All-Star season. It will be interesting to see if Cantillo’s numbers can remain the same, or even improve, as his usage increases.