Klemm clings to diamond dream

Life is full of ups and downs. It’s how we handle the downs that determines the kind of life we will ultimately have.

Former UC Irvine baseball standout Chris Klemm found out about the down times earlier this spring, when he was cut by the Philadelphia Phillies organization after three professional seasons.

After a little soul searching, Klemm decided to keep his dream of a major-league baseball career alive and is now an outfielder for the Long Beach Armada of the independent Golden League. He hopes to catch a scout’s eye and hook up with another major-league organization.

He said he’s having a blast right now.

“Coming over to the Armada was a great move for me,” Klemm, 25, said. “I have a great coaching staff to work with and the players are a good bunch of guys. Definitely some characters, which makes it fun.”

Things started out great for Klemm with the Phillies, who signed him as a free agent following his final season with UCI in 2003.

He started 55 games for the Anteaters in 2003, hitting a club-leading .319 with five home runs, six triples, 11 doubles and 27 RBIs.

The 6-foot- 2, 185-pounder began his professional career with the Gulf Coast Phillies, a rookie-league team, in 2003. He hit .336 in 42 games with two homers and 23 RBIs and was named a Gulf Coast League All-Star.

In 2004, he hit .289 with two home runs and 34 RBIs in 73 games, splitting time between the Clearwater Threshers of the High A Florida State League and the Lakewood Blue Claws of the South Atlantic League.

In 2005, he played 14 games for High A Clearwater, before being demoted to Lakewood. He hit a combined .211 in 101 games with three homers and 34 RBIs.

“I didn’t put up the numbers I knew I was capable of putting up,” Klemm said. “I couldn’t figure out what was going on.”

Still, Klemm kept a positive outlook and hit .370 during spring training in March. That’s what made getting released on the last Sunday of spring training all the more perplexing.

“I was in a bit of shock after that,” Klemm said. “I had a good spring training, I thought, and they were doing this to me.”

Klemm came home and realized he didn’t want his career to be over when he thought he was at the top of his game. He stayed in shape and heard about a tryout the Armada were having while he was home in Anaheim.

He attended the two-day tryout and got the call a few weeks later from Manager Darrell Evans, an ex-major leaguer, that he had made the team.

Klemm has had a good start for the Armada. Through Sunday, he was hitting .280 with eight RBIs. He had a .402 on-base percentage to help the second-place Armada to a 17-12 record.

He is in a bit of a slump offensively right now, as the team continues a homestand with Yuma at Blair Field.

His slump is coming from “seeing the ball too well.

“I’ve gotten overaggressive at the plate lately,” Klemm said. “I’m seeing the ball well, which causes me to swing at some stuff I can’t drive. That has to stop.”

Despite not being with a major-league team, Klemm says the quality of baseball he has seen in the Golden League has been pretty impressive.

“I’m still seeing the good control I saw from the pitchers,” Klemm said. “They may not have the velocity that some have, but it’s definitely a good league with a lot of talent.”

Someday, Klemm knows he will have to hang up his spikes, but he says he has no timetable for when that might be.

“There’s no set age, no set time frame for that,” Klemm said. “If I’m not producing the way I know I can, I’ll know it’s time to hang it up.”

When he does decide to hang it up, Klemm said he hopes to begin coaching and get into the majors that way. If that doesn’t pan out, Klemm, who has a degree in social sciences, said he’d like to become a firefighter.

“I’ve always liked helping people and that’s a great way to do it,” Klemm said.