TAMPA — In years past, Clarke Schmidt would arrive at spring training preparing to pitch in a to-be-determined role, with his roster spot far from guaranteed.

The right-hander is experiencing a different feeling this spring coming off his first full season as a big league starter.

“There’s just some comfortability every time I come in the clubhouse,” Schmidt said Friday. “I’m obviously out here fighting and giving it my all every day. But in previous years, I just feel like I was looking over my shoulder a little bit.”

Clark Schmidt, delivering a pitch during a simulated game earlier in the week, said he feels more comfortable in his role this spring training.Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post

The only way that would change this spring is if the Yankees were to actually sign Blake Snell and the rest of their rotation stayed healthy — two propositions far from certain or even likely to happen.

Schmidt understands the perspective of the fans craving for the Yankees to land another starter like Snell, but he is not getting himself wrapped up in it.

“It’s like, I get it — I’m a fan of sports teams too,” Schmidt said Friday. “If there’s a best available free agent, I would be wanting them too. But if I were to sit here and worry about or think about all the rumors and everything, I’d be worrying all day long.

“So for me, it’s just like, if they get him, they get him. If they don’t, I understand why they don’t. For me, I’m going to go about my job every day, do my stuff I need to do and go from there.”

Schmidt will do so with a strong foundation to build off of this year after being the Yankees’ second-most dependable starter last season behind Gerrit Cole. Because of injuries to other starters last spring, he broke camp in the rotation and remained there all season, despite taking his lumps over the first six weeks.

In a key step in his development (in a mostly brutal year for the team), Schmidt posted a 4.64 ERA across a career-high 159 innings and accrued plenty of trial by error. He also had a full-season course in learning from Cole, who has taken on a mentor role for Schmidt.

Free-agent pitcher Blake Snell is still on the Yankees’ radar.Sergio Estrada/USA TODAY Sports

Given all that, the newly 28-year-old said he believes he’s capable of reaching another level this year.

“I’m definitely ready to take a big step forward,” he said.

To help him do so, Schmidt spent the offseason cleaning up some of the things that got off track by the end of last season.

In part because of the fatigue he experienced toward the end of the season as he blew past his previous career-high in innings, he later realized he had become “too hunched over” on the mound. The bad posture shifted his mechanics enough that he was “over-cutting everything,” he said, and while that allowed his cutter (which he introduced last spring) to be “really nasty,” it messed with his sinker.

Clarke Schmidt delivers a pitch during a spring training outing earlier in the week.Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post

With the help of Trackman and watching slow-motion cameras to see how the ball was coming out of his hand, he focused on staying behind the ball more in his delivery so he can get more horizontal run on his sinker — all while keeping the effectiveness of his cutter.

“So I’m up taller a little bit more now and I’m trying to get more on my back leg now and stay behind the ball more and my velo’s been way up this spring,” Schmidt said. “It just feels like it comes out easier for me.”

Schmidt averaged 96.4 mph on his sinker during Thursday’s live batting practice session, which he said was the second-highest average velocity of his career.

Combining that with feeling fresher thanks to an offseason emphasis on improving his recovery (doing more yoga and focusing on better nutrition), Schmidt and the Yankees feel he is in a strong position to take another leap this year.

“Don’t want to put a cap on [his ceiling], because the reality is we’ve seen him get better and better,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Hopefully there’s another step in that improvement this year where he just gets a little bit more consistent. What that ceiling is, I’m not quite sure.”