Angels Prospect Tracker - George Klassen is the Top Arm to Watch

George Klassen's pitch arsenal is the best in the Angels farm system. he's also 24 years old and coming off a year that ended with a brief promotion to AAA. That combination makes him the most likely pitcher to impact the Angels 2026 season.

Brought over from the Phillies in exchange for Carlos Esteves, Klassen was seen as a wild card with potentially great stuff if he could just gain a little command. The command is a work in progress, but is trending in the right direction. A full camp with renowned pitching coach Mike Maddux just might help put Klassen on track for a big league role this season.

Momentum is on Klassen's side. After some early season struggles in AA, he cut his walk rate considerably, started going deeper into games, then ended the season with this gem in his final start for Rocket City.

George Klassen in his final AA start of the season:

7 IP | 3 H | 1 R | 0 ER | 2 BB | 8 K pic.twitter.com/qypL4QBwbV
— AngelsMiLB (@AngelsMiLB) September 11, 2025

Klassen brings some potentially filthy stuff to camp.

When it comes to pure stuff, Klassen has the best of the bunch. Drafted as a reliever, Klassen's command has always been in question. FanGraphs rates his fastball and slider as 55/60 pitches and his cutter a 60. With MLB average being 50, that means all three pitches are above average to plus. The cutter is already rated as a potentially real weapon.

Klassen's fastball sits 96-98 MPH and has nice arm side movement. It can hover over the middle of the zone a bit too often but the velocity and run still make it tough to hit. Klassen has touched 101 MPH a few times, giving him the fastball of a reliever whle in the rotation.

The cutter and the slider are real weapons. Both have nasty movement and late breaks. Both pitches produced whiffs over 40% of the time last season. When Klassen can locate them, they are true weapons the should translate very well at the Major League level.

So what should we expect in 2026?

Expect Klassen to get some good looks in Spring Training, especially the first half of camp. He's still very much a work in progress so expect some ups and downs. On the days he's able to command the strike zone he'll have Angels fans dreaming. On days when he's wild he'll have fans wondering why he's rated so highly.

I think it is very fair to expect to see him at the Major League level at some time in 2026. Ideally the Angels are able to keep him as a starter. He needs to consistently work later into games like he did over the last couple of months of 2025. Getting better command and continuing to limit walks will help a lot in that regard.

With very minimal rotation depth behind the oft injured Grayson Rodgriguez and Alek Manoah, there is a clear path to a rotation gig either out of camp or as an injury replacement. Really, there is a shot for Klassen to earn an MLB gig right out of camp like Ryan Johnson did last year.

Even if Klassen doesn't stick in the rotation, his stuff should play as a mutli inning reliever. His cutter and slider are simply that good.