Iowa Cubs pitcher Trevor Clifton finds peace, quiet and affordability in his tiny house

Trevor Clifton pulls out his key, gets on the back of a trailer and walks across the metal platform to a door.

That door marks the start of about 104 square feet of wooden housing. The habitat is barely big enough for a bed and a couch and doesn't have any plumbing or even a shower. But none of that bothers Clifton. 

This is home for the Iowa Cubs pitcher.

It’s an unusual route for any professional athlete. Most minor league players in Triple-A live in apartments or out of hotels. But not Clifton, a right-handed starting pitcher for Iowa.

Instead, Clifton, named the Chicago Cubs’ top minor league pitcher in 2016, has decided to go another route. During the off-season, he and his dad Dennis built the tiny home.

Iowa Cubs right-handed pitcher Trevor Clifton stands for a photo in the tiny house he built to live in during the baseball season Monday, April 15, 2019. (Photo: Zach Boyden-Holmes/The Register)

“We built it from the ground up,” Clifton said. “We always saw the tiny homes on Pinterest and all that (and thought) ‘dang, that would be cool to build.’ We had a chance to do it from the ground up. So, we went ahead and did.”

Clifton transported the shack to Des Moines, where he’s playing and waiting for his first call to the big leagues.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” said Jaron Madison, Chicago’s director of player development. "He’s always had a different personality and likes to do things differently. It makes sense.”

'Let's build something'

Clifton, 23, was a 12th round pick by the Cubs in 2013. He made his Triple-A debut with Iowa last season and figured he’d begin the 2019 season again in Des Moines.

Clifton lived with teammates Jen-Ho Tseng and Duane Underwood Jr. last season when he was promoted, but said he wanted to live on his own this season. There was just one problem: Clifton was already shelling out money to rent a house in Tennessee that he lived in during the offseason and the cheapest apartment he could find in downtown Des Moines was for $1,200 a month.

“It was just like, I can’t do that,” Clifton said. “Let’s build something.”

He bought a camper online for around $200. His plan was to renovate the inside and turn it into a little home for the season. But the plan hit a snag in the road. Clifton, who had started gutting the rotten wood from the inside of it, was hauling it over to his parents’ house when the camper actually collapsed.

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