{"id":91018,"date":"2025-01-28T21:26:06","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T02:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=91018"},"modified":"2025-01-28T21:26:06","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T02:26:06","slug":"adam-kloffenstein-signs-blue-jays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/01\/28\/adam-kloffenstein-signs-blue-jays\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays Sign Prospect Adam Kloffenstein to Minor League Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Toronto Blue Jays have added to their potential pitching depth this offseason by signing <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/12\/02\/adam-kloffenstein-underrated-value\/\" target=\"_self\">free agent<\/a> right-hander <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kloffad01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-01-28_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Adam Kloffenstein<\/a>, according to MLB insider Ari Alexander. The minor league deal also includes an invite to spring training. Kloffenstein, 24, spent 2024 with the St. Louis Cardinals organization, starting 17 games at Triple-A Memphis and pitching an inning in relief against the San Francisco Giants in July. While he missed most of last season due to a shoulder injury, he looks to rebound and provide versatility to Toronto&#8217;s pitching staff.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Source: RHP Adam Kloffenstein has agreed to terms on a minor league deal with the <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BlueJays?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#BlueJays<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Kloffenstein will get a Spring Training invite.<\/p>\n<p>The Magnolia, TX native made his MLB debut in 2024. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FNhJOiHOrF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/FNhJOiHOrF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ari Alexander (@AriA1exander) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AriA1exander\/status\/1884310388285792305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 28, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Blue Jays Sign Adam Kloffenstein<\/h2>\n<p>Kloffenstein, originally drafted by the Blue Jays in 2018, once was the seventh highest-rated prospect within their organization. His large frame (6&#8217;5&#8243;, 245 lbs) and plus-action, sinking fastball have long been projected to have major-league upside. Additionally, he possesses a dominant slider in his arsenal that works, at times, as a solid strikeout pitch.<\/p>\n<p>The Cardinals acquired him, along with prospect <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=robber000sem&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-01-28_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sem Robberse<\/a>, for flamethrower <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hicksjo03.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-01-28_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jordan Hicks<\/a> at the 2023 trade deadline. At the time of the trade, he became the No. 23 prospect in the Cardinals organization. In the wake of the deadline for the Rule 5 draft, the Cardinals removed Kloffenstein from their 40-man roster in favor of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/11\/25\/tink-hence-cardinals-promising-prospect\/\" target=\"_self\">top pitching prospects<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=hence-000mar&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-01-28_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tink Hence<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=roby--000tek&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-01-28_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tekoah Roby<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Through 17 starts with Triple-A Memphis, Kloffenstein threw for a 4.74 ERA with 73 K in 89 1\/3 IP.<\/p>\n<p>While Kloffenstein&#8217;s career has temporarily derailed, his signing with the Blue Jays represents an opportunity for him to provide value as an eventual back-end starter or bullpen piece.<\/p>\n<p>He has shown the ability to succeed at the minor-league level, posting a 3.16 ERA across 128 innings and two organizations in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Kloffenstein&#8217;s ability to contribute this season will depend upon the ultimate nature of Toronto&#8217;s pitching depth and his ability to overcome whatever injuries nagged him at the end of 2023. With injuries to starting pitchers increasing at an alarming rate in recent years, an arm like Kloffenstein&#8217;s could prove to be very valuable throughout the course of the season.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"modal-image-setImageMetadata\">\n<p class=\"ng-binding\">Photo Credit: \u00a9 Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Toronto Blue Jays have added to their potential pitching depth this offseason by signing free agent right-hander Adam Kloffenstein, according to MLB insider Ari Alexander. The minor league deal also includes an invite to spring training. Kloffenstein, 24, spent 2024 with the St. Louis Cardinals organization, starting 17 games at Triple-A Memphis and pitching [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5241,"featured_media":94813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1071,35],"tags":[2047,2601,28433,28434],"class_list":["post-91018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bluejays","category-mlb","category-news","tag-adam-kloffenstein","tag-jordan-hicks","tag-tekoah-roby","tag-tink-hence"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5241"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91018"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94814,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91018\/revisions\/94814"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}