Mike Clevinger says don’t ‘rush to judgment’ while the Chicago White Sox pitcher remains under MLB investigation

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Spring training began Wednesday for the Chicago White Sox with starting pitcher Mike Clevinger in camp as Major League Baseball continues to investigate allegations of domestic violence and child abuse.

Clevinger spoke with reporters for the first time since the allegations and investigation became public in a late January article by The Athletic.

“I’m pretty disappointed we have to start off this way,” Clevinger said at Camelback Ranch. “This is pretty devastating to me and my family, and I know I feel terrible for my teammates having to answer questions from you (reporters) and for you to have to ask them a bunch of questions about this.

“I trust the process from MLB. I think there’s a reason I’m sitting in front of you today. I’m just asking everyone to wait before they rush to judgment. Wait until the actual facts are out there, wait until there’s actual evidence and then make your decision on who you think I am. … This is about my children that I care more about than even this game.”

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Olivia Finestead, the mother of Clevinger’s infant daughter, told The Athletic she informed MLB’s Department of Investigations of “incidents of physical, verbal and emotional abuse.”

She wrote Wednesday an Instagram story: “The investigation is still very much going on. The White Sox can allow him at spring training, that doesn’t mean Mike is off the hook with the MLB or that he didn’t do what I’ve said he has.”

Clevinger was with the San Diego Padres at the time of the alleged incidents. He signed a one-year, $12 million deal with the Sox in December.

Asked if he’s confident he’ll be exonerated, Clevinger said: “I’m confident. I am.” He said he met with reporters because “it’s the elephant in the room.”

“I wanted to address it,” he said. “I’m not going to hide away from it. I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m not running away from this.”

The Sox have said they didn’t know of the allegations or investigation at the time of the signing. General manager Rick Hahn on Wednesday reiterated parts of the joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy MLB and the players union adopted.

“Under the terms of the collectively bargained policy, it is solely the discretion of the commissioner to discipline a player under investigation after the conclusion of an investigation,” he said. “At this point, the White Sox options are the same as they have been throughout this process when Mike joined us, and that is to respect the process in the investigation and let it play out.

“That is the club’s only option. Obviously the confidentiality element of the investigation is essential to the success and strength of the policy and one that we’re going to continue to respect.”

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Hahn said it was fair to ask about the level of due diligence the team did.

“I will say that the confidentiality element to this policy is essential in order to protect not just players, but also those who feel aggrieved to give them the ability to come forward and express that there is an issue and to allow for an investigation to take place,” Hahn said. “Part of that confidentiality is that other clubs don’t know about it.

“There was no way for us to be aware of this incident without someone being in violation of that policy and no one was, which again is part of the strength of the policy and how it operates effectively.”

Hahn said his reaction when he heard the news was “disappointment.”

“I regret the fact that we are sitting here today talking about this,” he said. “I understand why we are doing it. Obviously we have to, but this is a year in which we have high expectations. We have a new (coaching) staff that is trying to hit the ground running to help us fulfill those expectations. And we have a heck of a lot of players in that clubhouse right now who feel like they have something to prove.”

Asked if he considered disclosing it to the Sox before signing, Clevinger said: “This was going on for seven months. I didn’t even know it was still going on, to be honest.”

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Clevinger addressed his teammates Wednesday morning. He declined to disclose the message to reporters, “but I just wanted to share my sentiment to them of how bad I felt that this was how I was starting out. This is how they were meeting me for a lot of guys that don’t know me. I didn’t want their first day of camp to be answering questions about this nonsense.”

Sox manager Pedro Grifol said it was important that Clevinger spoke to the team. Grifol said Clevinger “signed with the team to be part of the rotation, and he’s here in camp and he’s working to be a part of it, a big part of it.”

Grifol did not get into contingency plans for the rotation.

“He’s available right now,” Grifol said. “And if by any chance he’s not available, we’ll discuss that as an organization. But right now he’s part of this rotation going forward.”