Caleb Williams is going to be good, and he’s going to be pretty damn good. So stop, please stop freaking out, especially if you’re a Bears fan. You’ve seen some truly terrible quarterback play, Caleb Williams is not that. The Caleb Chicago fans should be worried about is Caleb Kilian with the Cubs, because the 27-year-old made his season debut on Monday night and it went just as poorly as his other MLB appearances.
We’ve seen this story before with Kilian, who showed up at Spring Training the last few offseasons, looked great in Arizona, and then when he got a chance against MLB hitters, the right-hander got squashed. With so many injuries to the pitching staff throughout the season, Kilian could have had a larger sample size to impress this year, but he was a victim of injury misfortune himself.
The right-hander didn’t make it back to the mound until July, missing the first half of the season with a shoulder strain. He put up good numbers in Triple-A, posting a 3.22 ERA in 44.2 innings with 38 strikeouts in 13 appearances with the Iowa Cubs. He had a difficult task in his first appearance with the Cubs this year, facing the Philadelphia Phillies and, well, not doing well.
Kilian allowed five earned runs on eight hits (six total) and hit two Phillies home runs. The Cubs right-hander also walked four batters and had just three strikeouts in 5.2 innings, Kilian’s longest major league appearance.
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While it’s still an extremely small sample size, 22.1 innings, man, it’s been really bad every time Kilian has gotten a chance at the major league level. While his stuff is electrifying with Triple-A hitters and he lights up the radar gun with his 90+ mph fastball, Kilian isn’t fooling anyone at the major league level.
In seven MLB games, batters hit .348/.474/.511 against Kilian. He has an ERA of 11.28 and more walks (18) than strikeouts (17).
Can Kilian become a traditional one-inning relief pitcher? Sure. However, his future as a reliable backup starter who can step in in case of injury and make a few starts is not something the Cubs are looking for at this time.
But hey, maybe there’s an easy solution for Kilian. Could it be as simple as deflecting shots? Bleacher Nation’s Brett Taylor was all excited about Kilian’s performance on Monday night.
Kilian will still have a minor league option in 2025, which could be crucial for the pitcher with the Cubs.
