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.
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.