Will Klein #61

William Boone Klein…married to wife Carson...graduated in 2017 from Bloomington North High School (Ind.), where he earned first team All-Conference honors…at Eastern Illinois, ranked the No. 1 prospect in the Ohio Valley Conference at the beginning of the 2020 season…acquired by the Athletics along with Mason Barnett and Jared Dickey in exchange for RHP Lucas Erceg on July 30, 2024…acquired by the Mariners from the Athletics in exchange for international slot money on Jan. 21, 2025.

2025

After not appearing on the playoff roster in each of the first three rounds, was added to the active squad for the World Series and pitched five shutout innings over two appearances...In his first game action in four weeks, pitched a shutout inning against the Blue Jays in World Series Game 1...Emerged as the winning pitcher in Game 3, allowed two singles and a walk while striking out five on 72 pitches (previous high in a game for the Dodgers was 36)…the four innings were the most he had thrown in a game since 2020 at Eastern Illinois…retired 10 of the first 11 batters he faced, then struck out Tyler Heineman on a full-count curveball with the go-ahead runs at second and third base...Pitched 1.2 shutout innings with a walk and two strikeouts in his Dodger debut on June 21…four days later, threw two shutout innings with three strikeouts....Of his 14 regular-season appearances, 11 were scoreless, and 11 went at least one inning as well...Left-handed batters hit .171/.250/.229/.479 in 40 plate appearances (6-for-35, three walks, no extra-base hits)…Had a 6.14 ERA in 42 minor-league games, starting with a 7.17 ERA in Tacoma (21.1 innings), followed by a 5.16 ERA in Oklahoma City…was recalled by the Dodgers on three separate occasions during the regular season: June 20, July 1 and Sept. 19.

2024

Went 1-0 with a 11.05 ERA (9 ER, 7.1 IP) with six walks and seven strikeouts in eight games between Kansas City and Oakland. Made his Major League debut on April 28 at Detroit... tossed a scoreless eighth inning with two strikeouts. Earned first career win on June 2 vs. San Diego tossing a scoreless ninth inning. Held the opposition to a .184 batting average at Triple-A Omaha, walked 27 batters in 37.2 innings for a .317 on-base percentage…had a .604 OPS…ranked T-10th in the International League in saves (nine).

2023

Recorded 44 strikeouts in 29.1 innings (13.5 K/9) over 21 appearances with Double-A Northwest Arkansas, before being promoted to Triple-A Omaha on June 13... Did not allow a run over his last six appearances (11.0 IP) with Northwest Arkansas and allowed only three runs over his first 12 outings (15.2 IP) with Omaha, a stretch in which he recorded a 1.01 ERA (3 ER in 26.2 IP)...In his 28 outings with Omaha, his fastball averaged 97.0 mph, including a season-high 101.7 mph fastball on June 21 at Rochester...For the season, his 13.01 K/9 led all Royals minor leaguers (min. 60.0 IP) and his 30.5 K% ranked fourth.