2022 Padres Player Review: Mike Clevinger

2022 Regular Season Statistics

0.4 fWAR, 23 G (22 GS), 114.1 IP, 4.33 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 91 K, 35 BB, 20 HR, 10 HBP

Positives From This Season

I’ll give credit to Mike Clevinger for battling the entire season through his knee injury to get through the season and be available for the postseason. He was able to get through at least five innings in 14 of his 22 starts so there’s something to be said about saving the bullpen at least a little bit.

Negatives From This Season

Unfortunately there were more negatives than positives for Clevinger in what some fans hope was his last season with the Padres. While it wasn’t in 2022, he was hurt at the end of 2020 when the Padres made the postseason. He was out for the entirety of 2021 recovering from surgery. Then he started this year hurt and finished the year clearly battling through the same injury. “He’s been battling stuff all year,” manager Bob Melvin told the media after his NLCS Game 4 start.

Investing significant money in a pitcher who’s had a history of injuries likely isn’t what the Padres front office wants to do. And the bottom line is he pitched just 2.2 innings, allowing seven earned runs in his two postseason games this season. Of course we all know he wasn’t able to get a single out in Philadelphia after the offense gave him the luxury of a four-run lead before he even took the mound.

While he didn’t perform in the postseason, I did feel for him when he said the day of Game 4 was one of the worst days of his life. He wanted to help this team win so bad so it sucked to see him struggle (as it does to see any Padre struggle). I would be fine if he returned on a team-friendly deal but money could probably be better spent elsewhere this winter.

If you wish to listen or watch me talk more about Clevinger’s season on the Talking Friars Podcast/YouTube show, click here!