A fireballing reliever with wandering command wanders to Seattle (or at least Tacoma)
It feels a little mean to run Klein’s 40-man preview on the day he gets optioned to Triple-A Tacoma, but sometimes, that’s just how the scheduling ball falls. But it’s more likely than not that Klein, who looks like an old-timey barbershop pole decided to try being Amish, will be up in Seattle at some point this season, so it’s worth getting to know him.
Will Klein came up as part of the Royals system, drafted in the fifth and final round of the shortened 2020 draft out of Eastern Illinois. In addition to being drafted in the pandemic year, Klein was slowed in his developmental path with a shin injury that wiped out his 2022, but he still made a speedy ascent to the bigs, debuting last season for the Royals. Klein was flipped to the A’s in the Lucas Erceg trade, and then sent to the Mariners for international bonus pool money this off-season.
Klein has tantalizing stuff, with a fastball that can touch the triple digits but usually hangs out in the upper 90s. He pairs that with a power curve with downward movement and a slider, neither of which he can locate very well, partly due to a delivery that’s hard for him to repeat. His command is none of the things he’ll be working on when he heads to Tacoma as part of the Rainiers to start the season.
Projections:
FGDC: 22.0 IP, 0.0 fWAR, 4.27/4.44 ERA/FIP
PECOTA: 20.0 IP, -0.1 WARP, 5.03/4.73 ERA/DRA
Overs/Unders:
Zach: Under
I’m sorry, who?
Eric: Over
This 6’5” jumpscare of a reliever, ZAM.
Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images
That’s Big Will Klein.
Bee: Over
I’m certainly not a “believer” in Will Klein any more than I am a believer in, well, most any reliever, because churn exists. The M’s pitching lab has produced some real stalwarts over the years, but it also has a handful or two of suddenly-good-for-a-season arms that quickly leave the mind when they inevitably give way to the next. As is, he has a repertoire that fits well with some successful projects of Seattle’s past, and Klein has middle-inning-eater or mop-man written all over him. So I’m taking the over, but I’m not expecting hurdles above any of the foresight. But who knows, if he can pick up or tweak a pitch or two along the way, maybe he clears better than expected.
Isabelle: Over
In the early 1930s, if you were a National League pitcher there was one name you wanted to avoid above all others. Chuck Klein, the “Hoosier Hammer,” led the NL in slugging and home runs for three years running, walloping his way to for years of top-four finishes in MVP voting and earning the crown in 1932 when he led all of baseball in hits (no easy feat when you consider his slugging contemporary in New York) and put up a comical .404/.646/1.050. That same year, he became the first – and thus far only – player in the post-1920 era to lead the league in home runs and stolen bases. Klein is obviously a rather common name, but one can’t help but wonder if Chuck and Will, who both hail from within an hour of each other in Indiana, are related. And by one, it may just be me. Regardless of relation, I think this modern Indiana Klein has it in him to at least crest above 0 in fWAR/WARP.