O's draftee gets College World Series save

The Orioles third-round draft pick, right-hander Dan Klein, picked up a save in the College World Series on Monday night. He pitched a shutout ninth inning as his UCLA squad beat TCU, 6-3. It was his tenth save of the season as UCLA improved to 2-0 in the series. Klein, showing a 93-MPH fastball, along with a change and curve, gave up a one-out single but nothing else in closing out the win. The Orioles will not be talking contract with Klein or the other two players they drafted from UCLA while the Series is ongoing. When the Bruins season ends, scouting director Joe Jordan told me recently that he feels the O's will quickly come to contract terms with Klein. "We are not going to mess with the players while they are playing. (O's scout) Gil Kubski has spoken with Dan and the other players on that club (the other two the O's drafted). I think everyone has a pretty good sense of what is going to happen when they are finished playing. I don't expect it to be a long, drawn out thing once they are through," Jordan said. "I expect it to (go fast with Klein). Based on the information we received from the player before the draft, we can get him out to play. "He's not going to have a tremendous amount of innings once his season is over with, but it's important for me that we do get him out and he does pitch this summer, which we will. We feel like he's an advanced guy and if we can get his feet wet and get him oriented to our way of doing things this summer, it's going to help him next year and the year after." A right-hander, Klein has pitched in late relief for UCLA this season, going 6-0, 1.93 with nine saves. Over 46 2/3 innings, he has allowed 37 hits with nine walks and 50 strikeouts. He is expected to pitch as a starter in the O's minor leagues. O's fans can watch his team play on ESPN and its other networks in the College World Series. The O's also drafted UCLA lefty pitcher Matthew Drummond in round 20 and outfielder Blair Dunlap in round 43. Here is an article from the Bluefield newspaper detailing some of the players on the Bluefield Orioles roster as they get set to begin their season tonight.