It’s a huge bummer that things simply did not work out for Caleb Kilian with the Chicago Cubs. He was a modest prospect at the time he was acquired in the 2021 Kris Bryant trade, but pretty quickly saw his stuff take a step forward. He blew up in the Arizona Fall League, and made it to the big leagues the following year. He dominated for a little bit of one game, the hopes got very high, and then it all kinda fell apart.
Over the next few years, Kilian made it back to the big leagues a couple more times, with similar underperformance, and otherwise dealt with injuries and ineffectiveness at Triple-A Iowa. It was so easy to dream on him as a big league starter, given his size, a fastball that reached the upper-90s, and an extremely diverse pitch mix.
But the thing was, the big uptick in velocity seemed to come at a loss of his previously-pristine command, and it also came with huge variance bands that were unrelated to injury. Start to start and pitch to pitch, you didn’t quite know what you were going to get, which was at least suggestive of a guy who had trouble consistently repeating his mechanics. That meant he simply could not miss bats anywhere close to the rate you’d expect for a guy with his velocity and pitch mix, and he was too frequently getting himself into hitter-friendly counts that got him knocked around.
All the bones can be there, but baseball is hard and the margins get slimmer and slimmer with every level you rise.
Kilian threw just 15.2 total innings in the minors this past season, and ultimately departed the organization. The 28-year-old righty will now try again with the organization that drafted him:
The #SFGiants have signed pitcher Caleb Kilian and infielder Buddy Kennedy to minor league deals, per the team’s transaction log. Kilian was an 8th-round pick by the Giants in 2019 and shipped to the Cubs in the Kris Bryant trade. Kennedy has an .816 OPS across 8 MiLB seasons.
— Jeff Young (@BaseballJeff1) January 4, 2026A conversion to relief might be in order, seeing if the velocity can sustain a little better, and if the command can tick back up if the pitch mix is more limited. Nothing but the best wishes to Kilian.
With Alexander Canario having departed last offseason (and now heading to Japan), the book is fully closed on the Bryant trade. Decent swings for the Cubs when trading a rental (whose value was dented a bit at the time, if you’ll recall), but ultimately, no retained value.
Hence then, the article about farewell caleb kilian was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Farewell, Caleb Kilian )
Also on site :
- Free Fire MAX Redeem Codes January 7 Offer Cool Rewards
- There’s no shortage of intriguing head-coaching prospects for Cardinals
- Capitals vs. Stars: How to Watch, Odds, Picks & Predictions