Dylan Kieffer
By Terry Mosher
Editor, Sports Paper
It’s different when a baseball coach is concerned his pitcher might change for the worse as the velocity on his fastball increases, but that is exactly the worry for Dan Zuber when he talks about Dylan Kieffer.
Zuber, coach of the Klahowya Eagles, says, “My biggest fear for Dylan is as he increases his velocity he may go away from what makes him a good pitcher, being smart and hitting spots.”
Kieffer is sort of like the soft-tossing Jamie Moyer, the former Major League pitcher who had a very successful career with the Seattle Mariners by moving the ball around on hitters while never throwing hard enough to crack an egg.
For the six-foot-two Kieffer, son of John and Kristin Kieffer, being like Moyer would be perfect as he prepares late this summer to head over to Caldwell, Idaho and the small NAIA school, College of Idaho (just over 1,000 students).
Kieffer, a lefty like Moyer, throws a fastball that ranges in the 70s, has a good curveball, change and slider. But the lack of zip on his fastball (colleges like guys who throw at least in the mid-80s) certainly didn’t deter Kieffer from recording a 5-3 record and make the all-Olympic League team.
He was good enough to win Klahowya’s first playoff game in years this past spring, a 9-5 victory over Orting.
“It was the highlight of my career, for sure,” says Kieffer.
He was hitting his spots real well that day at the Fairgrounds, which is what Zuber expected him to do.
“He certainly was our number one pitcher,” says Zuber. “We configured dour rotation around how we could get the most use out of him. He finished like 5-3 and we tossed away a couple games he should have won.
“Dylan just got better and better every year and I think he will continue to get better and be a very successful pitcher in college.”
Kieffer has spotlighted baseball as his sport almost from the time he could walk, going through all the usual stops from T-ball to pee wees to American Legion ball. He did play a little basketball, but stopped to concentrate on baseball.
Now he’s pitching and playing outfield and a little first base for Terrel Hansen’s Northwest Blaze U18 team, which practices at “The Yard” near Belfair and plays a slew of summer games
“He’s a very good player, very coachable,” says Hansen, who slots Kieffer in as his No. 3 hitter.
Kieffer has not signed to play baseball at College of Idaho. He paid a visit to Caldwell in February and worked out for coach Shawn Humberger, who has been headman for the Coyotes for 13 years and had them in the NAIA World Series this past season.
College of Idaho was singled out as the place where Kieffer wanted to go and study environment science. He considers it a nature fit for him academically (Kieffer had a 3.36 grade-point average at Klahowya). Now it’s a question of whether he will play there, although college’s admission’s counselor told him he’s on Humberger’s list for incoming freshmen.
But even if he walks on without some form of athletic scholarship, Humberger will likely discover Kieffer is better than the sum of his parts. Sometimes it’s better to be a pitcher rather than a thrower, as Moyer proved for years. And that also fits Kieffer.
Kieffer also thought about going to Seattle University and walking-on, but the cost of going there (about $49,000 a year) was like a Randy Johnson fastball zipping by his chin. So it will be the College of Idaho for him, and hopefully a solid career as a pitcher for the Coyotes.
‘I want to take baseball as far as I can,” says Kieffer, whose dad has helped out with the Klahowya program and with the Kitsap American Legion team comprised of Klahowya players.
And if his velocity increases on his fastball as he grows into his lanky frame, Zuber can start to worry. Chances are good, however, that Kieffer will continue to hit his spots and be just as successful as always.
