Dodgers’ difficult roster cuts give former Royals fireballer his World Series moment

The Royals faithful may’ve thought that their only way see Kansas City represented in the World Series was through Vinnie Pasquantino as an official MLB Player correspondent.

However, an old friend has been called upon to fill a roster spot. When the Dodgers made their World Series roster announcement ahead of Game 1 on Friday, former Royals reliever Will Klein was amongst L.A.’s crew of pitchers after they were forced to make some difficult cuts.

Dodgers include Will Klein in World Series bullpen following difficult roster cuts

The news of the hour is that two of the Dodgers top high-leverage arms, Tanner Scott and Alex Vesia, were among the names left off the World Series roster.

Scott has yet to make a postseason appearance for the Dodgers this month, as he’s currently in the process of recovering from a lower body injury.

Despite sounding hopeful of a return during his media availability on Thursday, manager Dave Roberts obviously felt his $72 million man wasn’t ready to contribute.

Roberts was also faced with the difficult reality that he’d have to leave Alex Vesia off the roster too, due to what the team described on Thursday in an official statement as “a deeply personal family matter”. And according to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, Vesia is not expected to make a return to the roster during the series.

As a result of these decisions, Klein along with the Edgardo Henriquez were named as the two bullpen replacements.

Klein may be best know to Royals fans for the role he played as part of the return to Oakland to bring Lucas Erceg to Kansas City at last season’s trade deadline. However, Klein did make some appearances for them prior to his move out West.

Drafted by the Royals in the fifth round of the 2020 MLB Draft, Klein made his debut with Kansas City in 2024, throwing in 5.2 innings across five outings, posting a 6.35 ERA.

His trademark though is his fastball, which sat in the 94th percentile in average velocity this season at 97.9 mph. In limited time across multiple stints with the Dodgers this season, they saw just how effective he and his lightning quick heater can be, as he tossed to a 2.35 ERA in 15.1 innings of work across 14 appearances.

Klein isn’t likely to take over Vesia’s backend role in the World Series by any means and it remains to be seen just how Roberts intends to use the fireballing righty. That being said, it’s a big moment 25-year-old who’s been on four different organizations, DFA’d twice and traded twice in the last year-and-a-half.