CLEVELAND, Ohio -- When the Cleveland Indians traded for Mike Clevinger, he was pitching for a Class A team called Inland Empire.

The date was August 7, 2014.

Clevinger was a 23-year-old righthander with a 5.37 ERA in the Class A California League.

Oh, he also was recovering from 2012 Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery.

He was still ranked as the No. 17 prospect in the California Angels organization, but there were a lot of question marks about that rating because it was done at the start of the 2014 season. Clevinger's entire minor league experience with the Angels consisted of a 5-5 record covering 130 innings and a 4.29 ERA.

Remember, this was August 7, 2014.

Clevinger couldn't believe the Indians or anyone else would want to trade for him at that point in his career.

"It was a total shock," Clevinger told me in spring training.

Clevinger had been shelled for five runs in 2 2/3 innings in his previous start. He walked six.

"I was throwing in the high 80s mph, still building up my arm strength after surgery," he said. "I was in the weight room. The pitching coach came in and said, 'Put those weights down right now, we need to talk to you.' I figured I had done something wrong."

Clevinger was told he had been traded to Cleveland.

"I didn't even know who I was traded for until later," he said. "I saw on ESPN (the crawl line) it was for Vinnie Pestano."

THE LITTLE DEAL

"It was a waiver deal."

That's the first thing Tribe general manager Mike Chernoff said when I asked him about the Clevinger trade.

It was early August, 2014. The Indians were playing .500 baseball, and it was very unlikely they'd make the playoffs. That was the situation when the Indians put Vinnie Pestano on waivers.

Once a valuable part of the Tribe bullpen (2.45 ERA in 2011-12), Pestano was dealing with a cranky arm and pitching in Class AAA.

Waivers is a way for a team to see if any team has an interest in a player such as Pestano.

The Angels claimed him.

"We were open to a deal," said Tribe president Chris Antonetti. "So we started talking about prospects we could receive in return."

At this point, no one had said a word about Clevinger.

"I don't recall who we asked for first," said Antonetti. "It wasn't Mike."

As Chernoff explained, "We put together a list of guys. Usually, the first name or two in a deal like this is not the guy you end up with."

HE WAS A KNOB

He grew up in Jacksonville, Fla. Clevinger told me only one four-year college offered him a full baseball scholarship.

That was The Citadel, a military school in Charleston, S.C. Hard to believe when you see Clevinger's long, flowing hair, but he was a knob.

Knobs are bald.

"I had long hair from the time I was five," said Clevinger. "But they cut off all your hair. All of it. My parents wanted me to go to a good academic school, and that's a very good school."

At The Citadel, he had a 5-3 record with a 5.15 ERA. He struck out 77 in 93 innings, walking 35.

The most impressive numbers were his size: 6-foot-4, 200 pounds at the time. And he was throwing about 93 mph at the age of 19. A few scouts talked to him, and said he would probably be drafted if he transferred to a junior college.

"That's the only reason I left The Citadel," he said. "I did well in school. But I couldn't be drafted until after I was a junior if I stayed there."

Clevinger went to Seminole Junior College for the 2011 season.

He was a relief pitcher with a 1-2 record, a 2.84 ERA. Scouts eyes and radar guns lit up when he struck out 52 in 32 innings.

WHO KNEW?

He was a fourth-round pick of the Angels and signed for $250,000.

Think about this for a moment:

1. Clevinger had only one full baseball scholarship out of a high school -- to The Citadel.

2. At The Citadel, he had a 5.15 ERA as a starter.

3. In junior college, he was put in the bullpen and pitched well enough to be drafted.

4. When the Indians traded for him, he had a 5.37 ERA in the Class A California League.

"None of us are going to claim we knew Mike would develop as fast as he did when we traded for him," said Antonetti. "But there were things about him that we liked."

Chernoff said one stat jumped out: "He was striking out a hitter an inning (58 in 55 innings). We felt with some changes to his delivery, he could throw a little harder and get more depth on his breaking ball. There were some ingredients for him to succeed."

Tribe scouting director Brad Grant said the Indians had Clevinger ranked as a fifth-to-seventh round draft pick.

Grant said Tribe scouts saw Clevinger three times at Seminole Junior College, covering five innings. He was throwing 94 mph.

"The big question for us was if he could start," said Grant. "He was still developing a breaking ball."

When the Indians were considering Clevinger in the trade, they checked the Tribe's amateur scouting reports from Grant's department.

They also had director of pro scouting Victor Wang put together all the reports from Clevinger in the minors with the Angels.

"You try to get as much information from as many different places as you can," said Grant.

WILLING TO LEARN

Clevinger has an 11-5 record and 3.13 ERA for the Tribe this season.

The reason for the dramatic rise is Clevinger's willingness to learn and to make changes in his delivery.

Tribe minor league pitching coaches Ruben Niebla and Steve Karsay began working with Clevinger. So did Eric Binder, a former minor league pitcher and director of baseball operations.

Clevinger opened the 2015 season at Class AA Akron, where he had a 9-8 record and 2.73 ERA.

He was promoted to Class AAA Columbus for the International League playoffs and threw 15 scoreless innings.

The little waiver deal was starting to look big as Clevinger was named the Tribe's 2015 Minor League Pitcher of the Year.

In 2016, Clevinger was 11-1 with a 3.00 ERA in Columbus. He saw limited action with the Tribe last season.

Now, he has a 1.32 ERA in his last seven starts.

"Mike is very open-minded," said Chernoff. "You can come up with a plan for a guy, but he has to be willing to buy into it. He is very trusting of our coaches."

WHAT HAPPENED TO PESTANO?

Pestano was one of the best picks by Indians. He was a 20th-round pick -- Number 611 -- in the 2006 draft.

"He had been an excellent closer at California-Fullerton," said Grant. "He was going to be a high pick."

Pestano had a 2-1 record with a 0.97 ERA as junior, then hurt his arm. He needed Tommy John elbow surgery. The Indians decided to use the low pick on Pestano and hope he made a full recovery.

"We met with Vinnie and his father at the Marriott Fullerton," said Grant. "We offered him $75,000 to sign. Vinnie kept saying he was worth $100,000. Just give him a chance, and he'd prove it.

Pestano did just that. He made a major impact in the Tribe bullpen in 2010-11. But Pestano hurt his arm in the 2012 World Baseball Classic. He never was the same after that.

He has a 6-8 record and 2.98 ERA in 223 big league games. He last pitched in the Majors in 2015 with the Angels.

Now 32, Pestano pitched this season in the Independent Atlantic League.

PLAYING THE ODDS

Clevinger was one of three prospects acquired by the Tribe in the summer of 2014. He was probably the least likely to succeed at that point.

1. The Indians had traded veteran pitcher Justin Masterson to St. Louis for an outfielder named James Ramsey. A former 2012 first-round pick, Ramsey stalled at Class AAA with the Tribe.

2. They traded veteran shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera to Washington for an infield prospect named Zach Walters. He had 124 plate appearances with the Tribe in 2014-15, batting .161 with seven homers.

3. Cabrera and Masterson were headed to free agency. The Indians didn't think they could re-sign them. So the Indians turned them into prospects, hoping to add players who could help in the future.

4. Ramsey and Walters were better looking prospects in 2014. Ramsey was 24 and batting .300 with 13 HR at Class AA Springfield when he was acquired. Walters also was 24, batting .300 with 15 HR for Class AAA Syracuse.

5. In 2016, the Indians sent Ramsey and Walters to the Dodgers for "cash considerations."

6. Ramsey is not playing in the minors. Walters is with Kansas City in the Independent American Association.

The Indians have a very good record in small deals.

Jake Westbrook for Corey Kluber. Casey Blake for Carlos Santana. Esmil Rogers for Yan Gomes are some other examples.

"You try to put the odds in your favor," said Chernoff. "And it's the entire organization working with the player once you get him, from scouting to analytics to the coaches to our medical staff."