Phillies like big arm from Port

It hasn’t yet hit George Klassen that he’s going to be a professional baseball player.

“I don’t think it will until they send me out there,” the 2020 Port High grad said Tuesday, one day after being drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies.

Klassen sends balls to home plate in excess of 100 mph, which led the former University of Minnesota pitcher to be selected in the sixth round with the 193rd pick overall. He didn’t know where he would be drafted or by which team.

“No idea,” he said.

Klassen said he talked with the Phillies a couple of times but didn’t think he was on their radar.

Shortly before he was chosen, his advisers called to tell him. Klassen called it “surreal.” He and his parents, sister and girlfriend were watching the draft on the MLB Network, and Klassen’s phone began blowing up before he was picked. The livestream broadcast was ahead of the TV tape delay.

He is anxious to start. He was scheduled to fly to Philadelphia on Wednesday, then to the Phillies’ spring training facility in Clearwater, Fla., for a physical before signing with the team on Monday. Then he hopes to hit the mound.

“I just want to play this summer,” he said.

Klassen already knows all too well what it’s like not to play.

His senior high school season was stolen by the pandemic — Klassen and his father Jim built a mound out of plywood and carpet at their Town of Port home so he could practice pitching — and just before he was to start his freshman season for the Golden Gophers he injured his arm while pitching.

“I spiked one,” he said and thought, “Maybe it’s just a weird tweak.”

It turns out he needed Tommy John surgery — an ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction — that entails replacing a tendon in the elbow with a different one. Another year on the diamond was lost after the operation in March 2022.

“I didn’t really play a game for about two years,” Klassen said.

He didn’t give up either.

“You can feel sorry for yourself until surgery,” he said. “Then it’s on you.”

Klassen dedicated himself to rehabilitation and nutrition.

“I trusted the process and my trainers,” he said.

Klassen kept improving, and one of his pitches eclipsed 100 mph during his sophomore season playing Florida Atlantic University on the road. He didn’t know he hit triple digits until he watched the game replay a few days later.

“It feels good,” he said. “I never know if a pitch is going to be 98 or 100.”

He does know his favorite pitch to throw. Klassen has a slider and a curve, but his fastball — “definitely four-seam”— is his preference.

His fastest pitch was clocked at 104 mph by the international company TrackMan and 102 on radar guns, he said.

Klassen played club baseball for GRB Academy in Windsor during summers. When the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association moved  baseball to spring, that allowed Klassen to play for Port Washington High as well.

Klassen was named a North Shore Conference honorable mention after his junior season in 2019, when he played a few infield positions and center field. He whiffed 47 batters in 20 innings, hit .311 and led Port with 14 hits, four doubles and 12 runs scored.

“I love hitting. It’s so much fun,” he said, adding, “We’re done with that.”

Then Pirates’ coach C.J. Koehler instantly saw that Klassen was different.

“It was just the arm talent. His arm speed was something I have never seen in a high school game before and still haven’t,” Koehler said.

“The second thing is just his athleticism. He was just a freak athlete, could do anything he wanted on a baseball field.”

Klassen also participated in track and field, competing in the high jump, 110-meter high hurdles, 400 dash and the 1,600 relay.

He didn’t focus heavily on pitching until the summer before his senior year.

“I liked it a lot. It just feels right for me. It’s my comfort,” he said. “Every new at-bat is a different competition.”

A career as a pro didn’t enter the picture until his latter years of high school.

“I was just planning to have fun. I love the game and competition,” he said.

He originally committed to Purdue, but the Boilermakers’ head and pitching coaches left. When he reopened his options, Minnesota was the first team to contact him. It was a good fit. His sister Sarah graduated from there this year, and his mother Lani is a former Gopher.

Klassen said he had a great time playing close to home with the Lakeshore Chinooks in Mequon last summer. As a redshirt sophomore at Minnesota, he whiffed 49 batters in 53-1/3 innings.

He doesn’t have any superstitions but he has one routine.

“I’ll have an energy drink before I pitch,” he said.

Koehler said one more thing distinguishes Klassen.

“As great as George is on the field and his ability there, one of the things that stood out to me is his poise and character,” he said.

“People knew he was a really talented kid but he never acted that way. He jumped right in with the guys. He was a very coachable kid. He was great to have around.”