According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, about 25 teams went to watch veteran right-handed pitcher Corey Kluber throw on Wednesday, with the Mets reportedly one of those teams.
Passan says that Kluber was 88-90 mph with his fastball, but scouts came away impressed. The former Cy Young winner threw about 30 pitches including all of his offspeed stuff.
Kluber, now 35 years old, was an absolute star from 2014 to 2018, winning two American League Cy Young awards (2014 and 2017), and slotting an 83-45 record on a 2.85 ERA over that span. He also pitched 17 complete games and averaged just over 10 strikeouts per nine innings.
He’s battled injuries since then however, with an ERA of 5.65 in only 36 innings over the last two seasons. He threw just one inning in 2020 because of a Grade 2 teres major muscle strain in his throwing shoulder.
New Mets starter Carlos Carrasco mentioned during his introductory press conference this week that it would be nice to be teammates with Kluber again.
