St. Paul – There’s another Minnesota native who’s joined the ranks of the St. Paul Saints bullpen. The Saints called up John Klein, a 23-year-old from Brooklyn Park and a 2020 graduate of Osseo High School, to join their bullpen on August 4 after the Minnesota Twins called up Darren McCaughan.

The Saints signed Klein out of the Northwoods League in 2022. He was pitching for the Willmar Stingers for the second season in a row and was an undrafted free agent out of junior college when the Twins signed him.

Klein attended Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Saints pitching coach Jonas Lovin was Klein’s pitching coach at Iowa Central. He’s known Klein as long as anyone can in their baseball career, and to see him reach Triple-A before he’s reached three full years in pro-ball has been very special for both of them.

“I’ve seen John for a long time, just coaching him in junior college,” said Lovin. “So getting to see him grow up throughout this process and getting to see him actually become a pro and what that means. He’s performed really well this year; he’s been fun to watch. It’ll be fun to get a little bit more of a first-hand experience on his performance this year.”

Minnesota’s Double-A coaching staff surprised Klein when they told him he’d be moving up to Triple-A St. Paul. The Twins had already made numerous transactions between their major league and minor league rosters following their moves at the trade deadline.

The Wichita Wind Surge had gathered after finishing a series in Amarillo, Texas, for their usual end-of-week debrief from manager Brian Dinkelman. In the middle of it, Dinkelman stopped to single out Klein to tell him and the team he’d be heading up to Triple-A.

“It was awesome,” said Klein. “First person I called was my mom to let her and my dad know, and then called my fiance and let them know. Then woke up the next day with over 100 texts of, ‘Congrats! When do you pitch? We’re coming to watch.’ All that, so pretty exciting to be back home.”

This off-season, Klein’s focus was to bulk up and build more velocity on his fastball. He successfully gained 20 pounds of muscle when he arrived at camp this spring and felt strong, with his fastball velocity reaching up to 95 mph.

“Kind of the main thing last year was learning pitches, what to throw, when to throw them, and all that,” he said. “Then it was just kind of. All right, now we have to get the velo up. So this off-season just kind of was working getting a lot stronger, eating a lot more, just weighing more, and the velo went up with that.”

“The fastball has always been loud,” said Lovin. “Whether the velo, regardless of what the velo is, it’s always played up. Whether that’s junior college level, pro ball, whatever, the fastball has always been loud.”

Klein is excited to reunite with Lovin in Triple-A. They had already worked closely together in High-A Cedar Rapids for the last two years. But this phase of their baseball journey has been extra special for both of them. It’s the highest level they’ve played and/or coached, and to see Klein’s journey from a scrappy 19-year-old to one step away from the majors is very special.

“When you’re coaching guys in junior college, they’re kids, right?” said Lovin. “They’re 18- to 19-year-olds who are trying to find their place in the world and figure out where they fit in.

“Having uniquely seen him probably in that time of your life when you’re the most vulnerable and you’re really trying to get your footing and figure out where you’re going to be. Now I get to see him, through his own efforts, and obviously, we’d like to think some help from the organization, you get to see him where he is right now.

“We still talk about college. I was obviously a lot more immature as a 19-year-old than I am now, but yeah. Last year, got to work with him quite a bit, so that was pretty cool, and now [we] get to reunite for the third time here.”

Klein has spent most of the season pitching every four days either as a starter or reliever. He has only made it through two outings with the Saints, which were polar opposites of one another.

Klein’s Saints debut at CHS Field was far from great. He allowed six runs on five hits, a hit batter, and two walks while only getting two outs before they removed him from the game. Next time out in Omaha, Klein threw 3 ⅓ scoreless innings, giving up only one hit and two walks.

The Saints have placed Klein on the development list, but that doesn’t mean he has thrown his last pitch for the team this season. The Twins will make several more pitching transactions between Triple-A and the majors, and Klein will find himself back in the Saints bullpen in the middle of it all.

However, his biggest asset will be having Lovin there to guide him in correcting his mistakes on his way to becoming the next Minnesota-born player to join the Twins.

“Hopefully, there’s still some growth that can happen,” said Lovin. “I’m sure there’ll be these learning curves in baseball when you go up levels. So I’m sure there’ll be some learning spots here. You don’t ever know what those’ll look like, so getting to help him work is always a joy, and hopefully we’ll get to see him in a Twins uniform soon.”

“Yeah, for sure. No matter what level I’ve played at, I’ve been grateful just to be able to play professional baseball; to be able to climb up the ladder is exciting stuff,” Klein said. “Now we’re only a call away from the big leagues.”