Former MLB star Ian Kinsler faced a lot of pitchers over the course of his 14-year MLB career. He played in a time when Max Scherzer, Felix Hernandez, Justin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw, Chris Sale, Zack Greinke, Stephen Strasburg and so many more were at the height of their careers.
Despite that, none of them were the hardest pitcher Kinsler ever hit against. That honor goes to Corey Kluber, the former Cleveland Guardians ace who recently pitched for the Tampa Bay Rays.
He revealed this on the Flippin’ Bats podcast with Ben Verlander:
“The guy that always had my number- he just broke so many of my bats- was Corey Kluber. He really dominated me. I can remember one time, he had my number so bad that I swear he was doctoring the ball. He was cheating or something.”
He continued:
“He punched me out whatever times in a row and I was walking off the field just screaming at him to quit cheating. [Roberto] Perez was behind the plate and Kluber was on the mound and they were just staring at me like, ‘What’s wrong with this guy?'”
Kluber played for the Cleveland Guardians for a long time and while Kinsler started with the Texas Rangers, he eventually joined the rival Detroit Tigers and faced Kluber many times.
Ian Kinsler’s career stats
Aside from when he faced Corey Kluber, Ian Kinsler was a very solid player. He played for 14 seasons, most of which came with the Rangers and Tigers. He also played for the Boston Red Sox, San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Angels.
In 2009, he recorded a career-high 22 DRS and won two Gold Gloves over his career. He won the World Series in 2018 with the Red Sox.