CLEVELAND: Amid his ongoing home-run issues, the Indians on Tuesday optioned starting pitcher Cody Anderson to Triple-A Columbus and announced that starting pitcher Mike Clevinger will make his major-league debut Wednesday in Cincinnati.
The Indians also activated outfielder Lonnie Chisenhall from the bereavement list after he was tending to a death in his immediate family.
Anderson this season has a 7.99 ERA and has allowed 10 home runs in 32⅔ innings. It’s one more home run than he allowed all last season in 91⅓ innings. He allowed two more home runs on Monday against the Reds but was bailed out by a 15-run outburst.
The Indians have cited Anderson closing off his delivery as a reason for him not being able to drive the ball down as he normally does. He was sent to Columbus for one start to try to work out those issues, but the home runs have continued.
The club has continued to be positive about Anderson’s future in Cleveland.
“I think we’ve been pretty emphatic about how we feel about him,” Indians manager Terry Francona said before adding Anderson is one of the hardest workers he’s ever seen. “He’s going to be successful here in Cleveland. We’ve kind of seen it — [Corey] Kluber went back, [Josh] Tomlin. Guys have gone back to Triple-A.
“That doesn’t change one iota how we feel about this kid. I just think when you look at a kid and you feel like he needs to go back for his own good, you need to do it, even if it’s not necessarily convenient.”
The Indians will need a sixth starter for Monday’s doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox and will be allowed a 26th man on the roster, so it’s possible Anderson could start one of those two games.
Clevinger, the No. 7 prospect in the system according to Baseball America, began to open some eyes late last season and continued to impress this spring training. He’s pitched well in Columbus, where he has a 5-0 record and 3.03 ERA to go with 36 strikeouts in 35⅔ innings.
Clevinger was told he was being called up to the big leagues Monday night. Tuesday afternoon, it still hadn’t quite sunk in yet.
“I had no idea this was coming,” Clevinger said. “[Columbus manager Chris Tremie] called me last night and I was sitting in the hotel bar. He actually had to call me again, like, ‘No, you’re going.’ I really didn’t sink in. … He called just to double-check and reinforce it.
“When he called me, I didn’t really have much to say. So five minutes later, he called me again and said, ‘Clev, I just wanted to make sure you heard me. You’re going to the big leagues.’ I was like, ‘No, I’m starting to get it now.’ ”
Clevinger has a reputation of always going 100 percent in his side work, never relenting just because it isn’t a game situation. Francona saw it firsthand this spring when he caught Clevinger pacing back and forth before he was set to throw against live hitters.
“I was like, ‘Oh s***, something must have gone wrong at home,’ because I knew his [girlfriend] was pregnant,” Francona said. “And Tremie’s like, ‘No, man, he’s just getting ready to throw.’ I’m like, ‘It’s just to hitters.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, he kind of gets after it.’ ”
The Indians haven’t asked Clevinger to rein it in or relax while doing his side work, because that’s just who he is. They have, however, tried to instill a longer-term mindset in that throwing as hard as possible in the first inning might not be the best strategy if that level can’t be maintained into the fifth or sixth innings.
“That’s the way he’s built,” Francona said. “He’s ultra competitive and I think the thing we were at least trying to get him to understand was, if you’re going to throw 96 in the first inning, it doesn’t help to go out in the second inning and throw 91. But he’s been holding his velocity well, so that’s the thing I guess we were at least talking about with him.”
Injury update
Michael Brantley on Tuesday met with Dr. Craig Morgan, who performed the initial surgery on Brantley’s right shoulder, in Delaware. Dr. Morgan confirmed his diagnosis as a subacromial impingement in the shoulder.
Brantley received an anti-inflammatory injection, and no timetable for his return has been established.
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com.