By Kadie Smith @kadiealex
SPECIAL TO SPORTSNET.CA
CLEARWATER, FL — He’s 6-foot-7 and well over 200 pounds. He wears size 17 shoes. Shopping for them is a nightmare. He drives a 1991 Topaz … that he barely fits into.
At 16, when Colin Kleven was pitching for the Midget AAA Riverdogs, in Kamloops, B.C., he was already over six feet and throwing low 90 mph fastballs.
His middle name could have easily been projectable.
“He had the leverage,” said Sean Wandler, his former coach with the Riverdogs. “He had the long limbs and he had already started generating the velocity so it was just filling out and letting the rest of his body catch up to his height.”
Kleven’s former Langley Blaze coach, Doug Mathieson (B.C. Premier League), seconds that sentiment.
“He was certainly projectable and one of the kids you could see would be very good down the road.”
And very good he has become.
After being drafted by the Phillies in the 33rd round in 2009, Kleven moved up the ranks each year from the Gulf Coast League to the Williamsport Crosscutters and then to single-A Lakewood.
He is now the go-to pitcher for them, leading the pitching staff last year in wins, starts, innings and strikeouts (119).
Kleven says part of that success has been learning to deal with his size and finding comfort with his own body, but admits it wasn’t always that way.
“When I came in the first time I was a complete disaster. I couldn’t walk and chew bubble gum at the same time,” said Kleven, at the Phillies minor-league training camp, lounging on the bleachers with his feet reaching three rows down.
“You kind of grow up with the game. It was just me growing up in general too. Getting a feel for my body and my size and what kind of pitcher I am and how I work.”
After spending some time with him, the second thing you notice is Kleven’s work ethic and his passion for the game. He struggled in his first year of the draft, but pushed himself every day to get better.
“My mechanics were terrible at first,” he says, “Everything was just long flailing, not so good, so (it was) spending time doing mirror work, towel work all those things, and just every day, repeat, repeat, repeat.
Just wanting it is the biggest thing. Wanting to change. Wanting to get as much potential out of myself as I possibly can.”
Mathieson agrees.
“He was really raw when he came in. But he was willing to put in the work to get drafted.”
That helps explain how Kleven went from a late-round draft to the South Atlantic League All-Star game in 2012 — the only selection from the club.
Work ethic comes fairly easy for Kleven. He loves what he does.
“I get to be here every day, and you can’t call this work, really,” he said. “I really don’t care about the money.
“That’s one of the biggest things that helps a lot. It’s not about the money. To me, it’s not about being famous. I just want to play baseball at the highest level possible and be able to do well and succeed.”
Kleven loves to play. His eyes fade away to the field when he talks about the game, about strapping on his cleats, about how much fun the game is for him.
That could be as important to him as that projectable body.
