SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Perhaps it’s too soon to call pitcher Caleb Kilian’s return to the San Francisco Giants triumphant, but it certainly has gone extremely well.
The last we saw of Kilian, he was heading to the Chicago Cubs in the Kris Bryant deal halfway through the 2021 season, along with outfielder Alexander Canario.
Kilian made it into eight games with the Cubs over the next three seasons but the Texas Tech alum never got a regular roster spot, and after several injuries, including a shoulder strain in 2024, he came off the 40-man roster last summer. After the season, Kilian elected free agency — and signed a minor-league deal with his old team in December.
He certainly appears comfortable back in orange and black: Kilian entered Friday with a 1.23 ERA in seven Cactus League outings and the non-roster player remains in the mix for a bullpen spot.
“I feel like I’ve done everything I could, I’m feeling healthy, which is huge,” Kilian said Friday. “That was the main focus of this whole spring, that’s huge for me. I’m really excited about it.”
The bullpen is one of the Giants’ bigger unknowns going into the season, and even if Kilian, 28, is not on the Opening Night roster on Wednesday, he’d be right at the top of the depth chart when there is a need.
“I’ve been very impressed,” pitching coach Justin Meccage said. “He has four major-league pitches and for the most part, he throws all of them in the strike zone — and he’s 94-95 mph with the fastball.”
Assistant pitching coach Christian Wonders has added even more movement to Kilian’s cutter, curve and, especially, his slider — with just some minute grip changes. Kilian said he has seen as much as an inch or two difference in break.
“They’re pretty small, simple fixes,” he said, “but they’ve improved my shapes.”
“I think the results have been really good,” said catcher Patrick Bailey, who played with Kilian at Class-A Eugene in 2021. “I think he’s throwing the crap out of it right now. That’s exciting to see.”
Manager Tony Vitello has known Kilian since Kilian was at Flower Mound (Texas) High School, a football hotbed, and, Vitello said, “felt for a long, long time frustrated I didn’t do a better job of recruiting him” while Vitello was coaching in college.
“He’s very athletic. I tease him he could have been a good football player down there in Texas, but he never played, but he has a little of that killer instinct you can sense when you’re around him. He’s not afraid to get out there and compete. I think he’s got something to prove to himself, that he’s fully capable of doing this, and the stuff is pretty good.”
Kilian has been more than solid, holding opponents to a .214 average and putting up a WHIP of 0.95. At some point, he’s likely to get that call-up to the Giants, seven years after they drafted him in the eighth round.
“It feels familiar,” he said. “It feels like I belong here.”