Former Youngstown State pitcher Phil Klein will be on the Opening Day roster for the Texas Rangers this evening when the 2015 season begins at Oakland at 10 p.m. Eastern.
Klein, a right-handed pitcher from Gahanna, Ohio, pitched for the Penguins from 2008-11 and made his Rangers debut on Aug. 1, 2014, in Cleveland. Klein is still classified as a rookie, one of six on Texas’ Opening Day roster. That is a club record.
Klein pitched in 17 games for the Rangers last year, posting a 1-2 record and a 2.84 ERA. He struck out 23 batters and walked 10 in 19 innings, and his victory came against Atlanta on Sept. 12.
Klein was selected in the 30th round of the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft by the Rangers after a notable career at Youngstown State. He finished his time as a Penguin ranking second in career strikeouts with 258 and sixth in innings pitched with 252. He set YSU's single-season record with 15 starts and recorded a Horizon-League leading 105 strikeouts, the second-highest total for a season in school history, as a senior in 2011.
While Klein is on the big league roster, former Penguins Eric Marzec and Drew Dosch will begin the 2015 season in the minor leagues.
Marzec will be with the Biloxi Shuckers, the Double-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, to start 2015. The right-hander posted a 3.02 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 38 appearances across Double-A and Triple-A in 2014. Marzec, who played for the Penguins from 2007-10, was drafted by the Brewers in the 30th round in 2010.
Dosch will start 2015 at the Class A Advanced affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, the Frederick Keys. Baseball America has Dosch ranked as the Orioles’ No. 15 prospect and listed him as a high-ceiling sleeper in the organization. Dosch, who played for the Penguins from 2011-13, hit .314 in 128 games at Class A Delmarva in 2014 to rank seventh in the South Atlantic League in batting average. Dosch was drafted in the seventh round by the Orioles in 2013.
