We've already seen our fair share of big name pitching prospects make their debuts this year, including Sean Manaea, Michael Fulmer, and Jose Berrios. I gave the latter the full GIF Breakdown treatment following his MLB debut, and we're back for another edition as the Indians called up Mike Clevinger to start Wednesday evening against the Cincinnati Reds. To give a little background, Clevinger was impressive in 2015 as he started 26 games in AA, featuring a 8.26 K/9 and a miniscule 2.28 BB/9 paired with a sparkling 2.73 ERA (3.02 FIP). While he was able to increase his strikeout totals in AAA this season (9.08 K/9), the control has been questionable and as his walk rate rose, his ERA followed. We've seen pitchers develop further from the moment they hit a major league mound, and I was anxious to see what Clevinger brought to the table as he faced the Reds. Here's Mike Clevinger's GIF Breakdown with 12 GIFs from that start.
As always, let's begin with his strikezone plot from the evening:
