The White Sox are going to select right-hander Mike Clevinger, per reporting from Jim Margalus and James Fegan of Sox Machine. Active rosters expand from 26 to 28 today, so it appears Clevinger will take one of the two new openings. The Sox have open 40-man spots and won’t need to make a corresponding move there either. Fegan notes that Clevinger will not be serving as a starting pitcher.
Clevinger was once a valuable starting pitcher but he hasn’t really been the same since his 2020 Tommy John surgery. Prior to that operation, he struck out 27.3% of batters faced. Since then, his strikeout rate has been just 19.2%. His 3.19 earned run average in the former split jumped to 4.28 in the latter.
Here in 2025, the Sox signed him to a minor league deal and experimented with moving him to the bullpen. He had a really good spring, throwing six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts, and earned an Opening Day roster spot. He wasn’t able to carry that over into the regular season, however. He tossed 5 2/3 innings over eight appearances with a 7.94 ERA, 9.7% strikeout rate and 25.8% walk rate.
That was obviously a tiny sample of work but the Sox quickly pulled the plug. Clevinger was designated for assignment in mid-April and outrighted to Triple-A Charlotte. Once back in the minors, he got stretched back out as a starter. He has thrown 79 innings over 18 Triple-A starts with a 4.22 ERA, 22.4% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate.
The Sox just lost Aaron Civale to the Cubs via the waiver wire, opening a hole in their rotation. That leaves them with Shane Smith, Martín Pérez, Davis Martin and Yoendrys Gómez as their four starters. Civale was supposed to start today’s game, so the Sox will need someone else to take the ball.
But per this reporting, it won’t be Clevinger, so perhaps he will be a long relief/swingman type of role. Bryse Wilson could perhaps enter the rotation or just make a spot start. Jonathan Cannon and Sean Burke are on the 40-man and one of them could be recalled, though Burke just started in Triple-A on Thursday and Cannon on Friday.
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