Manager Terry Francona said that he'd rather Clevinger provide depth as a starting pitcher from the minor leagues than break camp as a reliever, Zack Meisel of Cleveland.com reports.
Clevinger logged 53 innings for the Indians last season, posting a 5.26 ERA and tallying 50 strikeouts floating between the rotation and bullpen. However, the right-hander is a starter by nature and the organization plans to keep it that way. "You need depth starters," Francona said. "You can always bring him back to the bullpen. If you put a guy in a bullpen role, it's really hard to stretch him out." That said, Clevinger has been terrible this spring in his limited time on the bump (seven runs allowed on six hits and eight walks through 5.2 innings), and the 26-year-old is destined to begin the 2017 campaign at Triple-A Columbus.