CLEVELAND: Michael Clevinger will receive the start for Monday’s game against the Houston Astros as the Indians try to give Josh Tomlin additional time to rest and rebound from an abysmal month of August.
It doesn’t mean, though, that Clevinger is taking Tomlin’s spot in the rotation going forward. The Indians view Clevinger as a starting pitcher in the future, but for now, he’s been effective in the bullpen, and the club wants to keep him there in the short run.
“We want to keep him on his bullpen routine,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “We’re not going to let him get real deep, just because he’s been in the bullpen and I think we all view, at this time of the year, that he has a chance to help us in the bullpen.”
As a reliever, Clevinger has a 3.18 ERA and 1.147 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched) with 13 strikeouts in 11⅓ innings. He’s also entered in some key situations, like when he struck out Toronto’s Edwin Encarnacion on Aug. 21 with the bases loaded in a game the Indians eventually won 8-7 on Jose Ramirez’s home run in the eighth inning.
When he was starting, the Indians talked about Clevinger needing to maintain the same velocity he displayed in the first inning throughout his entire start. Now in the bullpen, that’s not a concern.
“I think when you look at his stuff, and as a young starter, like in Triple-A especially, his first two innings were always his highest velocity,” Francona said. “His stuff could almost be electric, and then he’d settle in. So that was the thought, if you’re coming out for 20 or 30 pitches and you’re able to throw 95, 96 with a breaking ball and a changeup, that’s why we wanted to give him some opportunities doing this.”
In addition to skipping Tomlin’s start on Monday, they also cut back on his off-day throwing program to allow him to “reset,” look at film and see if he can correct his issues. He’ll be available out of the bullpen on Monday.
The Indians hope they’ve identified at least part of the issue from his August starts, in which he posted an 11.48 ERA.
“The biggest thing is over the course of those [outings] — not just the last couple, but six or seven — his fastball-cutter usage has flip-flopped so drastically,” Francona said. “He’s very aware of it. He did some digging on it himself. I think he understands one of his strengths is throwing his fastball in. And when he’s going good, he does that, and then he opens up the plate for his cutter. And he had kind of gotten away from that.”
The Sept. 1 roster expansion allowed the Indians to call up Cody Anderson and Joe Colon from Triple-A, giving the bullpen two additional arms and making a “bullpen game” possible. The Indians view Clevinger and Anderson as starters in the long run but for now want to keep both out of the bullpen.
If Tomlin can correct his issues, he’ll easily slide back into the No. 5 spot the next turn through the rotation. If not, the Indians could have a decision to make about how to finish September.
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at www.ohio.com/indians. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RyanLewisABJ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RyanLewisABJ