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Former YSU pitcher Phil Klein getting used to major leagues
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Texas Rangers relief pitcher Phil Klein throws during a game against the Miami Marlins. Klein is a former Youngstown State pitcher who made his major-league debut with the Rangers a month ago.
By Joe Scalzo
The best moment of Phil Klein’s baseball career (so far) came inside an office in Round Rock, Texas, on July 31.
His team, the Triple-A Round Rock Express, had just beaten Oklahoma City 8-2 when Klein, the team’s star reliever, was called into Express manager Steve Buechele’s office.
“I had just gotten into the locker room, maybe a minute or two after the game, and I hadn’t even taken off my jersey yet or anything,” said Klein, a standout pitcher for Youngstown State from 2008-11. “Buechele just tapped me on the shoulder and told me to come into the office, so I’m in there thinking I’m waiting on Brad Holman, our pitching coach, to come in and talk to me.
“Finally, Buechele got in there and said, ‘Hey, you better get two tickets for your parents.’ And in my head I’m like, ‘OK, are they going to surprise me in Round Rock and come to a game?’”
Seeing Klein’s confusion, Buechele grinned and said, “Yeah, get two tickets for them in Cleveland tomorrow.”
That’s when it registered. The Rangers were playing the Indians the next day. Klein was getting called up.
“I don’t even remember what I said to him,” Klein said. “My legs got real weak and I was going to pass out.
“I had no idea it was coming.”
The next night, Klein made his major league debut in front of crowd of family, friends and ex-YSU teammates in the sixth inning of a 12-2 loss. He entered the game with a 35-inning scoreless streak stretched over 21/2 months in Double A and Triple A. It ended with the first batter when Indians third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall homered. Klein also hit a batter, balked him to second and gave up an infield single before getting out of the inning.
“I told myself I didn’t feel as nervous as I thought I would,” said Klein, who spoke by phone on Friday. “I thought I was Joe Cool out there. But everyone told me I looked super nervous.
“I thought I was way cooler than that, but I guess not.”
Two nights later, in his second major league appearance, Klein gave up a walkoff homer to Michael Brantley in the 12th.
“That was a low point,” he said. “But I remember watching, I think it was a football show on TV or whatnot, and one of the guys had a really bad game. And one of the veterans came up to him and said, ‘You know what? That’s the worst thing you can do. You have nothing to be scared about anymore.’
“That’s what I took from that. I gave up a home run, then I gave up walkoff home run and it’s hard to do much worse than that. What am I gonna be scared of? Giving up a run? No. Giving up a home run? No. Losing a game? No. I had already done it and there’s nothing to be scared of now.”
After Brantley’s homer, Klein settled in with the Rangers, allowing just one earned run in his next seven outings. He gave up two runs in Saturday’s loss to the Astros, but still has a 3.86 ERA in 10 appearances over 112/3 innings.
“It’s not like I had a secret formula and I changed all my mechanics and now I’m throwing better,” Klein said. “It’s just settling in. These are the best hitters in the world. If you make bad pitches, they’ll make you pay for them, especially if you’re behind in the count.
“Regardless of what you throw, regardless of how nasty your stuff is, if they know what pitch is coming or they guess right, most of the time they’re gonna hit it hard.”
Like most baseball players, Klein grew up dreaming of playing in the major leagues, but he said “it’s exceeded my expectations. I underestimated it.”
For Klein, the best part is the team charters — “There’s a plane waiting for us; you don’t have to worry about making a flight or a flight getting delayed” — but he appreciates how everything is big league, from the sunflower seeds (“Every kind you could ever imagine”) to the Red Bulls and the “fast-twitchy pre-workout drinks.”
“I can’t do those, though,” he said. “I just drink water and Gatorade.”
Klein doesn’t have any lofty goals for the last month of the season, preferring to keep things simple. Get a first-pitch strike. Get the first batter out. Pitch a scoreless inning, then pitch another one.
“I wouldn’t say it gets easier, but you get more comfortable,” he said of the majors. “You’re up there to throw up zeroes. That’s my job. That’s what I try to do.”