“I visited three different schools and I probably could’ve gone on more visits to maybe 20 other places, but it got to the point where I was looking for reasons to not go to Xavier,” he said. “I visited twice, and it felt like I was going home. I didn’t get that feeling with other colleges.”
Klaiber, who made himself an attractive recruiting commodity with a red-hot junior season for coach Brion Treadway’s Rams, also checked out Miami and Cincinnati, he said.
“By then, it was 100 percent that I wanted to go to Xavier,” the 6-foot-3, 195-pound right-hander said. “Miami’s and UC’s campuses were very large. At Xavier, it’s all in one area.”
If Klaiber ends up with the Musketeers, who’ve reached the NCAA Division I tournament three of the past four seasons, he would be the first Ram to play there in Treadway’s seven seasons as coach at his alma mater.
Treadway respects Klaiber’s approach to the decision-making process.
“I’d like to say Seth and I worked pretty closely in discussing things, but he has a good network of adults around him who had a hand in helping him out,” Treadway said. “He sought out a lot of people for advice. They have a great family, and it all worked together.
“As a coach, it’s really the perfect scenario. He has a good family network, and he’s a mature, responsible young man who’s really good at using all of his resources.”
Klaiber, who Treadway says can deploy a four-pitch arsenal — fastball, curve, slider and changeup — burst onto the local prep scene this past season by going 4-0 with a 0.15 earned run average and 55 strikeouts in 46 innings. That was after he was 0-1 with 2.71 ERA and nine strikeouts in 10.1 innings as a sophomore, but Treadway saw a flash of potential toward the end of that season.
“He came in on Senior Night against Centerville,” Treadway recalled. “They had a really good squad, and he dominated. We recognized there how special he could be.
“Seth had a tremendous junior year for us. He was the man for us. He was our ace. He gave up one earned run all season. He garnered a lot of attention this summer. Xavier caught him in the summer. Watching him pitch, they really fell in love with his style, his demeanor on the mound and with what he brings to the table in terms of velocity and pitching stuff.”
Klaiber, who said he needs to bump his ACT score a couple of points to qualify for a full scholarship, plans to major in biology and become an ecologist.
“They have to figure out how everything in nature connects to everything,” he said “It’s really cool. Growing up, I was fascinated by the outdoors and nature, and I really got interested when I took AP biology last year. My quote is, ‘I would be a veterinarian if it didn’t take 10 years.’ If you’re an ecologist, you can go see everything and you’re not stuck in an office. You can see nature’s big puzzle.”
If Klaiber can duplicate or improve on his junior season as a senior, Treadway has no doubt that he could be picked in next June’s Major League Baseball first-year player draft, which would give him an option to Xavier.
“I think a professional career is 100 percent in his future,” the former minor-league pitcher said. “There is a possibility that he could get drafted as a senior. He’s a next-level pitcher, no question.”
Klaiber isn’t thinking about that right now. His mind-set is if it happens, it happens. If not, he’ll be in the right place to perhaps make it happen down the road.
“I think that’s why I committed to Xavier,” he said. “Xavier is all about developing players. That’s why they can compete with teams like Louisville and Vanderbilt. They don’t get the No. 1 recruit in Ohio as an incoming freshman. They get guys like me and then develop at the highest level.
“The professional level might be a route. It depends on how things go this spring. I’ll work my butt off this winter, get stronger and faster. My main goal is getting better. I want to deliver for those coaches the way they’ve delivered for me.”
About the Author