White Sox place Mike Clevinger on IL, finally testing rotation depth

White Sox pitcher Mike Clevinger
(Photo by Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire)

The White Sox were one of two teams that only needed their original five-man rotation to handle every start up until this point of the season.

Come Monday, there will only be one, as the White Sox placed Mike Clevinger on the 15-day injured list with right wrist inflammation.

The timing of this move is a little strange, in the sense that the White Sox announced and explained another pair of roster moves earlier in the day. They purchased the contract of Clint Frazier while designating Jake Marisnick for assignment, which, as I mentioned in the morning, seemed like the tidiest way to add the right-handed outfielder to the 40- and 26-man rosters.

James Fegan said he saw Clevinger wearing some sort of splint in the clubhouse, and Jesse Scholtens hadn’t made his start for Charlotte this week, so this didn’t seem to catch the Sox by surprise. My guess is that the White Sox waited as long as they could before logistics like scheduled starters and retroactive dates needed to be settled.

Scholtens made a couple of relief appearances for the White Sox his first time up. He gave what the Sox what they needed in long relief in his MLB debut, then took the loss in extra innings his next time out because Hanser Alberto threw the ball away on Scholtens’ only pitch. Since returning to Triple-A, he’s been one of Charlotte’s more reliable pitchers, with a 3.99 ERA and 42 strikeouts against 11 walks over 38⅓ innings.

Besides being a real opportunity for Scholtens to define himself, it’ll also give everybody an idea of how sorely the White Sox will miss what Davis Martin was supposed to provide as the go-to sixth starter. Martin excelled in that role last year, but now that he’s recovering from Tommy John surgery, the Sox don’t have a confident candidate for this sort of work.

As for Frazier, he’s starting and batting sixth in today’s lineup. With Eloy Jiménez requiring a rehab stint before he comes off the injured list, the Sox could use a right-handed outfielder to rotate in the corners. He’s 3½ years younger than Marisnick, and he offers a greater chance of any sort of offensive impact, even if that’s a pretty low bar to clear.

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shaggy65

Other than perhaps the Royals, Scholtens couldn’t ask for a softer entry into the rotation than a Cleveland team coming off a double-header. At least the bullpen is well-rested in case Jesse doesn’t have it. (Whither Jimmy Lambert?)