Padres: Breathe a sigh of relief on Mike Clevinger’s injury news

Mike Clevinger’s postseason with the Padres was cut short, but there is growing optimism that he’ll be 100 percent for next season.

A major question mark heading into the offseason was the health of the Padres‘ top two starters in Mike Clevinger and Dinelson Lamet. Both players had their 2020 regular seasons cut short with bicep tightness, but the former was able to return for Game 1 of the NLDS against the Dodgers. But after just one inning of work, Clevinger left the game, aggravating the injury and leaving his future uncertain.

Clevinger was the Padres’ trade deadline splash, but according to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, there is a growing sense of optimism among people familiar with the injury that the Padres’ ace is headed for nothing more than invasive arthroscopic surgery to clean a few things up. Much better than needing Tommy John and missing all of the 2021 season.

The Padres have him for two more years, and they are hoping he can help the team accomplish something that has never been done in franchise history. And that’s to win a World Series Championship in San Diego.

Clevinger made four starts with the Padres, posting a 2.84 ERA and fanning 19 batters over the same number of innings. He had a 9.0 K/9 and just a 1.4 BB/9, which was an improvement over the 4.4 BB/9 he had with Cleveland prior to being traded.

We’ll hope to provide more news on Lamet soon, as many believed that Clevinger’s injury was more serious, yet Lamet never returned to the mound after leaving his start after 3.2 innings on September 25.