CHICAGO – Mike Clevinger has pitched over 800 innings in his MLB career, but his latest have come in a new role.

As the White Sox clung to a 3-0 lead in the eighth inning on Opening Day against the Los Angeles Angels, the bullpen phone rang with a message for Clevinger to warm up. After making 142 starts with the Cleveland Indians, San Diego Padres and White Sox in the first eight years of his career, manager Will Venable plans to use Clevinger out of the bullpen.

He entered the game with runners on first and third base and two outs, a different feeling than when he’d start a game with clean slate. Now two appearances into the season, it’s one Clevinger has come to enjoy.

“It’s definitely a big adrenaline rush,” Clevinger said. “Every time the phone rings you’re waiting, heart starts beating. So I actually really like that aspect of it.”

Making his first relief outing since 2022 – and before that, 2017 – Clevinger was greeted by three-time MVP Mike Trout, who walked to load the bases. Jorge Soler had a chance to give the Angels the lead with a grand slam, but Clevinger blew a 94.7 mile-per-hour fastball past him at the top of the zone to escape the jam.

“That was huge,” Venable said. “We talked about those situations and who we want out there for that, and Mike’s the guy, right. He handles those situations well, and the test came early for him. That was obviously a big moment for him, and to see him get out of it was nice to see.”

Clevinger made his second appearance the very next day. That’s stark contrast from his time as a starter by nature of his new role, but also because his body wouldn’t have allowed that in the past. He dealt with elbow inflammation last season, which he later learned stemmed from neck pain. So last August, Clevinger underwent disc replacement surgery in his neck, and the early returns have been positive from a recovery standpoint.

“This is the healthiest I’ve felt since probably 2019 as far as throwing the ball,” Clevinger said. “As you’re going through spring, just the way the body’s felt, the way the arm’s bounced back, I can kind of like almost know that surgery, that’s why I wasn’t bouncing back from starts for a couple years. The arm wasn’t bouncing back. We probably didn’t know it was the spine at the time, so it wasn’t until it was really glaring that I couldn’t even lay down last year and knew we had to get an MRI on the spine.”

Clevinger has adjusted his daily routine as a result of his new role. As a starter, he had a five-day play and knew what he’d be doing every hour of every day in between starts. But as a reliever, he has to be prepared to pitch most days.

He’s enjoyed that aspect as it feels like his college days at Seminole State College of Florida, where he was a third baseman and a closer. The surgery has helped him bounce back on a daily basis too.

“It’s just making sure I’m fresh and ready to go each day,” Clevinger said. “Obviously try to get certain heavier days in when I know I might be down or have a chance, like [Thursday] having an off day. So figuring out what to do in the weight room after this game today.”

“It’s been awesome. I think [the surgery] cleaned up a lot of issues that had been going on with my arm. So I think that stuff with the spine was kind of lingering around to other parts of my arm. So I feel a lot better now.”

From a preparation standpoint, Clevinger hasn’t approached hitters too differently. He still looks at the scouting reports to identify first-pitch swingers and who can handle pitches with spin in the zone.

But there’s also less of a chess match with the entire lineup that starters deal with, compared to relievers who can be laser-focused on certain segments of the batting order. That’s all part of the adjustment process.

“Matt Wise, our bullpen coach out there, he’s been in my ear, I’ve been picking his brain about it,” Clevinger said. “Just the first couple games figuring out like, hey, what part of the order should I be looking at? Is it getting close to time? How many pitches I should be throwing, and when I should be moving around stuff like that.”

Clevinger gave up the lone earned run in Saturday’s 1-0 loss to the Angels on a bit of an unlucky come-backer from former White Sox third baseman Yoan Moncada. After retiring the first two batters, Clevinger walked Soler, who advanced to third base on a wild pitch. Moncada’s sharply hit ground ball deflected off of Clevinger’s glove and trickled toward second base for an infield single.

His first two relief appearances have come with mixed results, but the White Sox will be counting on Clevinger in key situations moving forward.

“I think that’s fair that you’ll see [Clevinger] there in the back end,” Venable continued. “We also want to have the flexibility to know that that moment might come earlier in the game than the ninth inning, and we’ll be mixing and matching. You saw [Cam Booser on Thursday] and what he can do too. We have a lot of guys that we trust in the back end. But yeah, Clev is gonna be the guy.”