CLEARWATER, Fla. — Reggie McClain has a locker tucked in the corner of a crowded Phillies clubhouse. He has a jersey with No. 60 on it. He has a spot on an MLB team’s 40-man roster and a chance to win a job in spring training. A few weeks ago, when the Mariners designated him for assignment, he had none of that.



Soon after the Phillies claimed McClain off waivers on Jan. 31, a fan with a Twitter account that boasts more than 200,000 followers added the 27-year-old righty to the conspiracy theories that have engulfed baseball.



“I don’t have Twitter,” McClain said Thursday morning. “So a lot of people texted me that. I saw it. I mean, in my head, I knew my bad outings were against the Astros. I already knew that. In my head, it was like, ‘If I can figure out this one team, I’ll be pretty good.’”



This is as far as McClain allows himself to go. It’s a dark tunnel, another path for the mind to...