Indians righty Mike Clevinger seems to be recovering quite nicely from offseason knee surgery. He tells MLB.com’s Mandy Bell that he’s working at “100 percent intensity now.”
Skipper Terry Francona said yesterday that Clevinger was among the rehabbing Cleveland players making progress. But it seems the ace righty is even further along.
The real challenge faced by Clevinger is more or less the one confronting every other ballplayer. He says he’s “monitoring the progression in the weight room” but otherwise running a mostly normal schedule — within the confines of a pandemic shutdown.
Clevinger says he was “doing beach workouts” before that became untenable. He’s now throwing to a catcher in a “facility that’s clean, sanitized, no one’s going in there.” Clevinger says he’d “like to have more of a set plan,” adding that he understands it just isn’t possible at the moment.
[RELATED: Mike Clevinger: The One That Got Away From The Halos]
The Indians are no doubt keeping a keen interest in Clevinger’s activities. He’s a critical part of the team’s plans, now and in the future. His knee surgery wasn’t serious, but the last thing anyone wants is for some other issue to crop up while he’s finishing off his rehab work and building back up on the mound.
I am loving this actual “baseball news” tonight. With Austin Jackson trying to comeback, and Clevinger getting back to 100%, it feels like we’re back in the winter meetings.