The Los Angeles Angels Thought George Klassen was ready to make the jump to the majors, but the were very wrong.
The Los Angeles Angels know that George Klassen has the potential to step into their rotation and be productive, but the Angels also know it’s going to take time. Klassen was sent to the minors after two bad starts, and he’ll be making his next one at Triple-A Salt Lake.
Klassen gave up seven runs on seven hits in 4-2/3 innings in his first two starts, but the worst part was his lack of control. The young right-hander walked ten hitters while striking out six, and many of his pitches weren’t competitive. Klassen also had what was described as a “fingernail contusion” on the index of his throwing hand when he left Saturday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds, so he’s had a tough go of it after a strong spring training.
Manager Kurt Suzuki pinpointed what needs to happen during his conversation with Klassen when the pitcher was sent down.
“Just keep working,” manager Kurt Suzuki said in a piece written by Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. “Obviously with Klassen, the stuff’s there. We’ve all seen it. We all talk about it. We still love him. He's just got to get more consistent. That's all. There's really nothing else to it. Just experience, consistency and just pitching.”
It’s more than fair to second-guess the Angels for their decisions here. They keep throwing young pitchers to the wolves when they obviously need more time in the minors, and it rarely works. Suzuki didn’t endorse this approach, but he didn’t dispute it, either.
“Really that self-reflection, that acceptance of it, I think it’s huge, especially for younger players,” Suzuki said. “Some players can be like, that's [bull], it's just a couple starts, I'm ready. It's not fair. For George to come in and accept and understand that he still has to work on things, is great. That's what you want to see. It's good for us coming from one of our young pitchers."
The model here is current starter Jack Kochanowicz, who was sent down last year and came back and finished strong at the end of the season. Kochanowicz has locked down a spot in the Angels rotation, and the hope is that Klassen will be this year’s version of that growth process.
“It's good that he got roughed up,” Suzuki said. “He learned it's the same game but it's a different speed."
What Suzuki didn’t address was the huge need for someone consistent in the back end of the rotation. The Angels just dropped two games because of their approach with Klassen, and it’s disappointing to see the same mistakes repeated over and over again.