The Toronto Blue Jays are flying high these days, retooling for another run at their first World Series championship since 1993, after coming two outs short of nailing the title down in last year’s Fall Classic. But it was only a few years ago that they were languishing near the bottom of the American League East, struggling to approach the .500 mark.
One of the reasons for the Blue Jaysâ struggles, and for their relatively quick turnaround, was the draft. The Blue Jays swung and missed on some expensive, early-round draft picks. That’s what happened in 2018 when, in the third round, they paid a well-over-slot bonus of $2.45 million to sign their third-round draft pick, a 6-foot-5, 245-pound right-handed pitcher out of Magnolia High School in Texas, Adam Kloffenstein.
Yankees Sign Righty as Free Agent
More than seven years and exactly one major league inning later, the Blue Jays have lost Kloffenstein to their closest divisional rival, the New York Yankees, who signed the 25-year-old as a free agent in a minor league deal on December 19, according to Kloffenstein’s official MiLB.com transaction log.
The low-key signing was not announced publicly at the time and did not appear on Kloffenstein’s transaction page until Sunday.
The Blue Jays clearly thought highly of Kloffenstein when they drafted him. The then-high schooler had committed to pitch college ball at TCU, but the Blue Jays were so intent on acquiring him that they paid nearly four times the $652,900 value assigned to the 88th spot in the draft that year to lure him away from the collegiate ranks.
Kloffenstein Was Toronto Top-10 Prospect
In the first round that year, the Blue Jays drafted Kloffenstein’s high school teammate and friend, shortstop Jordan Groshans, who took $3.4 million to sign â $800,000 below the $4.2 million slot value. The Blue Jays then applied some of that savings to Kloffenstein’s signing bonus.
âIf he hadnât taken less, they would not have gotten me,â the then-teenage Kloffenstein told MLB.com at the time. âI donât know if they planned it that way, but thatâs the way it happened.â
As he started his pro career, the Blue Jays’ investment in Kloffenstein seemed well worth it. On the strength of a solid 2019 at Single-A ball with the Vancouver Canadians, when he posted a 2.24 ERA with 64 strikeouts in 64 1/3 innings, Kloffenstein shot up the Blue Jays MLB Pipeline prospect rankings, reaching the No. 8 spot that year and staying in the top 10 through the lost 2020 pandemic season and into 2021.
Yankees Will Give Kloffenstein One More Shot
In 2023, the Blue Jays finally gave up on Kloffenstein, who still had not shown enough to crack the big league roster. They traded him to the St. Louis Cardinals with another prospect for fireballing reliever Jordan Hicks.
It was with St. Louis that Kloffenstein saw his only MLB action to date â a single, 1-2-3 inning of relief in a June 20, 2024, 6-5 win over the San Francisco Giants.
The Cardinals non-tendered the big right-hander after the season and the Blue Jays signed him as a minor league free agent. After struggling to a 6.91 ERA in 82 innings with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, in a season hampered by a shoulder injury, Kloffenstein elected free agency again on November 6 and signed with the Yankees six weeks later.
“Still only 25 years old, thereâs plenty of time for Kloffenstein to figure things out,” wrote Mark Polishuk of MLB Trade Rumors on Sunday. “The Yankees pitching development department has had quite a bit of success helping unheralded or struggling pitchers unlock something on the mound.”
The signing came with an invitation to the Yankeesâ big league spring training camp where “he’ll look to impress to potentially earn a shot with the major-league roster in 2026,” according to a CBS Sports report.
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