Corey Kluber is back in Cleveland. The Guardians announced that they’ve hired the two-time Cy Young winner as a Special Assistant of Pitching. Zack Meisel of The Athletic first reported the news this morning.
Kluber spent nine of his 13 MLB seasons in Cleveland. Acquired from San Diego as an unheralded minor league pitcher as part of a three-team deal involving Jake Westbrook and Ryan Ludwick, Kluber reached the majors in 2011. He didn’t establish himself until 2013 but broke out as arguably the game’s best pitcher one season later. He won his first Cy Young while leading the AL with 18 wins and firing 235 2/3 innings of 2.44 ERA ball.
That was the first of five straight seasons in which Kluber finished top 10 in Cy Young balloting. He placed among the AL’s top three on four occasions during that stretch. He won his second Cy Young while winning the ERA title in 2017. Kluber finished his nine-year tenure in Cleveland with a 3.16 earned run average and 98 wins during the regular season. He made another nine postseason starts, headlined by a 1.83 ERA across six outings during Cleveland’s pennant run in 2016.
Kluber ranks third on the organization’s all-time leaderboard with 1461 strikeouts. He’s second behind Shane Bieber in strikeout to walk rate and behind only Hall of Famer Addie Joss in WHIP. He’s eighth among pitchers in franchise history in Baseball Reference’s Wins Above Replacement. The Guardians continue to benefit from that run, as they acquired Emmanuel Clase from the Rangers in the 2019 trade that ended Kluber’s tenure in Cleveland. Injuries wrecked his lone season in Texas, but he rebounded with decent seasons for the Yankees and Rays before struggling with the Red Sox in his final year.
Nice move. Glad to hear his name again
Similar to Stephen Strasburg, and that he was pretty dominant and then completely fell off. Similar to Zach Wheeler in the sense that he had a late start to his peak. Similar to Johann Santana because he has two Cy Young awards and is not gonna make the Hall of Fame.
There’s never really been a pitcher this dominant that had such a late start to his career, as well as such an abrupt end.
Chris Carpenter comes to my mind. Forgettable through age 27 in Toronto, then pops up after missing a year as a legit ace at age 29. Wins a Cy Young and finishes 2nd and 3rd as well, then disappears at age 36 after another injury.
Kluber’s peak arguably started when he was 27, which overall isn’t that late. Wheeler has been a good to great pitcher for pretty much his entire career since debuting at 23; it just probably feels like his peak started later because of early career injuries and because he’s probably just gotten even better since joining the Phillies.
It’s not a perfect comparison (especially since he’s in the Hall of Fame and I expect Kluber to come up just short), but Sandy Koufax had a similarly dominant but brief peak.
@David There was a LHP in the 60’s name Sandy, he blew up in his mid 20s and came to and absolute stop by age 31, much more abrupt than Kluber.
There have been a ton of pitchers whose dominance quickly disappeared, Kluber is far from alone there. Yes he had 2 Cy Young’s and an amazing peak. Off top of.my head I believe Lincecum had 2 and Bumgartner might ve had 2 as well. If one of them did not get 2 of Cy Youngs it was not do to lack of talent. To win an award like that you not only have to be great but also great at the right time. Many players have had seasons far better than some where a pitcher won a Cy Young only to have the poor luck of someone else having a crazy great season that year.
Bumgarner actually never finished top 3 for Cy Young even once.
I had a feeling he hadn’t win Cy Young that’s why I mentioned. If I click to check I sometimes lose comment section when I return.
That said I’m surprised now that I ve looked that Mad Bun was never higher in Cy Young voting.
“That’s a bold statement, Cotton!”
Just looking at Kluber’s career, he has 2 Cy Youngs yet is almost certainly not making the Hall. His peak was amazing but far to short for the Hall.
This can only be a good thing for the Guards though. He certainly knew a thing or two about pitching.
Late start to his career, and too many injuries at the tail end of it. Never really had a rise to stardom, and a fall from his prime, but I feel if he was healthier during those last 5 seasons, we may be talking about him a little differently.
But he has something not many can say. He had a great 5 year run he excelled in those years. Something to be very proud of.
Kluber may have the lowest career WAR of a 2x Cy Young Winner.
He does not. Denny McLain has 19.3 Career War and won ’68 and ’69. Forgot about him.
Lincecum is right there with McLain too. Pitching is hard on the body. Lincecum, Peavy, Webb, Kluber, lots of guys from 2005 to 2015 who were at the top of the game fell off the map completely.
Peavy doesn’t belong in the same category as those guys. He had a 15 year career and made almost 400 starts.
I was surprised Lincecum had only a 19.5 career WAR. He was so damn good.
Id also argue that Peavy and Webb at their best are not in the same tier as Lincecum, Kluber, or McLain at their best.
Webb is criminally underrated because of the short duration of his career. He finished 1st 2nd 2nd over three years and then boom never pitched again.
Congrats to Klu-bots!
Nice to see the Klu-bot back in the game
Fun Kluber facts: tied for most Cy Youngs for alumni of Stetson College, with Jake DeGrom. Part of a trade tree that dates back to a Jerry Dybzinski for Pat Tabler swap.
Most fans would have released him after the 2012 season as a no talent pitcher
But most fans think they know everything
I’m not really sure what you’re getting at.
He had decent numbers in AAA in 2012 and wasn’t great in the majors that year, but Cleveland was a bad team and needed guys to make starts. He was never going to get released. This wasn’t far removed from Mitch Talbot being a genuinely important part of the rotation.
Perhaps Captainmike1 is still infatuated about that “team-friendly deal” that Kluber took in 2014. We all should know how Captainmike1 cares so much about money and how bad it is that MLB players get paid ‘huge’ contracts.
2728
Will you stop being an A-hole
You dont know what most yankee fans are like, they want instant stardom