Healthy Clevinger ready for move to bullpen in '25

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- The last time Mike Clevinger served as a closer was 2011, when he pitched for Seminole State College of Florida. He played 32 games at third base that season.

Don’t look for that third-base scenario to play out again with the 2025 White Sox, but the veteran right-hander seems excited for his move into high-leverage relief work.

“Sounds fun,” said Clevinger at Camelback Ranch prior to Sunday’s 4-3 Cactus League loss to the Royals. “It’s an interesting new challenge.”

With the non-roster invite coming alongside a recently agreed-upon Minor League contract, Clevinger returns to the White Sox for a third straight season on a third separate deal. He was a starter in those first two incarnations, although he was hampered by injury issues for much of his 2024 run and made only four starts.

But he enters this current camp knowing solely relief work is ahead of him. Adjusting that mindset from every fifth today to multiple outings per week doesn’t seem to be an issue for the 34-year-old.

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“One thing that changed me as a starter early on in my career was taking that closer mentality into each inning vs. trying to think about mitigating my pitches throughout a start,” Clevinger said. “That part, just navigating the routine.

“I’m pretty routine-oriented as is. It’s going to be finding the flow of things, when I’m getting ready, the throwing before the game, and just really ironing out those details is going to be the biggest challenge. I don’t think it will be a problem. Mitigate each day to try to get back out there and go back-to-back days, three games in a row, and find that flow.”

After throwing in a bullpen session Sunday morning, Clevinger moves on to a live BP in three days. He’ll throw a couple of those before going into games. The White Sox have been careful not to label any set positions this early in Spring Training, reinforcing the spirit of competition, but manager Will Venable liked what he saw from Clevinger Sunday.

“It certainly seems like he's got the right mentality for it,” Venable said of Clevinger moving to relief. “Everything looks really crisp, and just hopefully we can continue to give him opportunities to see what it looks like out of the bullpen and hopefully it all lines up."

"I think the focus right now is getting into the routine of shortening down, and seeing what the recovery looks like in between appearances. We'll go from there as we continue to build out our roster."

There was an uncertainty to Clevinger’s future when his ‘24 campaign ended following 4 2/3 innings at home against Baltimore on May 23. His 0-3 record and 6.75 ERA over four starts was followed by disc replacement surgery in his neck on Aug. 1.

In hindsight, that surgery might be the best thing to happen at this point in Clevinger’s career. The procedure was performed by Dr. Robert Watkins in California, and despite having some worries going in, Clevinger immediately felt different physically.

“He’s like, ‘Dude, I do 20 of these a day.’ He was just very calm,” said a smiling Clevinger. “It was probably the easiest recovery I ever had. That first night after surgery I slept better than I had in probably six months. I was throwing two weeks after that, and now I feel as healthy as I have since 2019. I instantly was already moving my head around better.

“My [scapula] mobility got a lot better. I was sleeping better. I was throwing bullpens again. By the time I got back to lifting and throwing bullpens, all the numbness in my hand, the forearm muscles shutting down, all that stuff had already stopped.”

There was an original worry of Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, with Clevinger losing feeling in his right hand and watching his velocity drop precipitously at around pitch 50. But the disc surgery provided a great relief, which the right-hander now hopes to provide for the White Sox.

“It’s just good to be back around familiar faces,” Clevinger said. “I’m happy to have the opportunity.”

“He’s thrown a fair amount off the mound in his buildup for Spring Training,” said general manager Chris Getz. “He obviously didn’t know where he was going to end up. So he feels like he’s fully healthy and ready to go.”