Blue Jays: Pitching prospects looking to bounce back in 2022

Adam Kloffenstein

A former third-round pick of the Blue Jays back in 2018, right-hander Adam Kloffenstein has been a primary feature on the club’s top prospect list since being drafted. The Texas product has spent the 2019 and 2021 campaigns with the Vancouver Canadians (2020 in Independent ball with the cancelled minor league season) but the club jumped up to High-A this past season compared to the Low-A three seasons ago.

Last year was rough for Kloffenstein, as his command on the mound was not on point, evident by the 5.4 BB/9 and 61 walks through 101.1 innings. Of the 23 starts he made, Kloffenstein walked three or more batters in 15 of those games and that heavily impacted his stats line, finishing with a 1.549 WHIP and 70 earned runs. Kloffenstein also experienced some issues against lefty-batters, with opposing left-handers posting a .896 OPS with six home runs compared to righty-batters, .669 OPS with four home runs.

While the 6.22 ERA is not one that many predicted for the right-hander, there are still quite a few positives from Kloffenstein’s 2021 season.

For one, the 101.1 innings is a career-high and he stayed off the injured list for the entire campaign. He also struck out 107 batters through those 23 starts, showing the organization that his stuff does have swing and miss potential with his 9.5 K/9.

At just 21 years old, there is still lots of room for development and progress with TSN’s Scott Mitchell predicting the starting pitcher heading back to High-A to begin the 2022 campaign.