Caleb Thielbar

Caleb John Thielbar

• Bats Right, Throws Left
• Height 6' 0", Weight 195 lb.
• School South Dakota State University
• High School Randolph (MN) High School
• Debut May 20, 2013

• Born January 31, 1987 in Northfield, MN USA

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Biographical information

Caleb Thielbar made the majors in 2013 and pitched into his late 30's in spite of a four-season hiatus in his big league career.

Amateur Career

Thielbar was All-State in basketball in high school (23 points per game for his career) and had a 9-0, 0.69 record as a senior pitcher to win All-Conference honors in baseball. As a college freshman, he was 3-4 with a 6.26 ERA. The next year, he improved to 7-3, 4.15. He faded to 5-4, 5.94 as a junior and had a 5-8, 5.44 record his senior year. He set school records for starts (44) and innings (274), was second in strikeouts (196) and fourth in wins (20). The Milwaukee Brewers took him in the 18th round of the 2009 amateur draft. The scout was Harvey Kuenn Jr.

Brewers and Saints

Caleb began the summer of 2009 with the AZL Brewers and was excellent (6-1, 1.59, 46 K, 7 BB in 45 1/3 IP) to earn a promotion to the Helena Brewers (0 R in 1 2/3 IP). He tied Pil-joon Jang for the Arizona League win lead and was first in ERA (.45 ahead of runner-up Cameron Lamb). Despite his success, Roberto Feliciano was named the AZL All-Star lefty reliever. In 2010, Thielbar was less successful with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (0-2, 3 Sv, 5.60 in 3 G) and Helena Brewers (3.68 ERA in 9 G). Milwaukee released him that winter. Thielbar signed with the independent St. Paul Saints and was a very good middle reliever in 2011 (4-3, 2.21 in 46 G, 1.09 WHIP, 67 K in 57 IP). That drew the interest of the neighboring Minnesota Twins, who signed him.

Minnesota Twins

The Minnesota native pitched three games for the Fort Myers Miracle in the remainder of 2011 (1-0, 1 H, 5 BB, 5 K in 7 1/3 IP). He moved up the chain steadily in 2012, appearing for the Miracle (1-1, Sv, 4 H, 16 K, 1 UER in 12 1/3 IP), the New Britain Rock Cats (2-0, 4 Sv, 1.80 in 16 G) and the Rochester Red Wings (3-1, Sv, 3.57 in 25 G). He tied Bruce Pugh for the lead in games pitched by a Twins farmhand (48). He struggled in winter ball, with a 1-0, 11.08 record in 11 games for the Peoria Javelinas of the Arizona Fall League.

Caleb opened 2013 with Rochester and was 1-1 with a save and a 3.76 ERA after 17 games, fanning 34 in 26 1/3 innings. He was called up to the majors when Pedro Hernandez was demoted, becoming the first South Dakota State player to appear in the majors and the first player named Caleb as well (at the time, it was thought that Caleb Johnson had played in the National Association in 1871, but later research has demonstrated that this player was actually named "William Johnson"). He edged out Caleb Gindl for the title of first Caleb by under a month. He was also the first player to have appeared with the independent St. Paul Saints to play for the Twins. In his big league debut, he entered in a double switch, replacing Ryan Pressly on the hill and Pedro Florimon in the lineup, with a 5-0 deficit in the bottom of the 7th against the Atlanta Braves. Andrelton Simmons greeted him with a single but he retired Jason Heyward and Justin Upton then fanned Freddie Freeman on three pitches. In the 8th, he went 1-2-3, striking out Gerald Laird and Juan Francisco, with a Dan Uggla pop-up in between. Ryan Doumit pinch-hit for him in the 9th.

Thielbar logged his first wire-to-wire campaign in the Majors in 2014, preforming as a reliable and effective member of the Twins staff. His 3.40 ERA was the second-best mark on the staff for hurlers with at least 30 innings pitched. He was also the youngest of Minnesota's six hurlers to top 50 games pitched that season. This strong effort gave him a respectable 12th-best bWAR total on the team.

Thielbar only pitched in six games for Minnesota in 2015, with a 5.40 ERA, though he excelled for Rochester, posting a 2.81 ERA in 29 outings. Ultimately though, the Twins parted ways with him on July 31st, clearing his roster spot for the newly acquired Kevin Jepsen. Nine days later, Caleb was claimed by the San Diego Padres, though he did not appear in a Major League contest with them before being outrighted and becoming a Free Agent in the offseason.

Out of the big leagues

Thielbar re-signed with the Saints prior to the 2016 season, and would spend the next two years with the club (excluding a short stint between the two seasons with the Miami Marlins, with whom he allowed five runs in eight hits in 1 2/3 spring training innings). He once again performed well with the club, though he was limited to just 17 contests in the latter campaign. Between the two years, Caleb posted a 2.29 ERA.

Thielbar returned again to the affiliated ranks in 2018 after signing a Minor League deal with the Detroit Tigers on July 24th. Caleb ultimately ended up bouncing up and down between the AA Erie SeaWolves and the AAA Toledo Mud Hens several times throughout the season, and was effective at both levels. Thielbar ultimately ended up making 27 of his 39 appearances on the year at Erie, where he would post a 1.42 ERA while posting a strikeout rate of 9.5 per nine innings. In total between the two levels his ERA was 2.05 while his K/9 rate was 8.1. Caleb remained in the Tigers organization for most of the 2019 season, posting a 3.30 ERA while pushing his K/9 to 10.8 in 50 games with Toledo. He was then dealt to the Atlanta Braves August 31st of that year, appearing in one game for the AAA Gwinnett Stripers before the end of the season.

Second Stint the Majors

Thielbar was one of the players named to the United States' roster for the 2019 WBSC Premier12 Tournament on October 10th, 2019. He was one of a few veterans on a prospect-laden team; Clayton Richard and Brandon Dickson were the only older hurlers.

Following his appearance in the tournament, his old team the Twins invited him to spring training. He was one of a number of players to take advantage of the expanded rosters caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as he made his return to the majors on August 4th, pitching a couple of scoreless innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates before tiring in the 9th when he had a chance to record his first career save, and giving way to Trevor May. He ended up making 17 appearances and pitched quite well, ending up at 2-1, 2.25 in 20 innings. He made his postseason debut in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series on September 29th against the Houston Astros on September 29th, taking over after Sergio Romo had walked in the go-ahead run with two runs in the 9th. He gave up a single to Michael Brantley that drove in two more runs to make it 4-1, before getting Alex Bregman to ground out. The Twins were unable to score in the bottom of the inning and went on to be swept in two games.

If unusual circumstances had contributed to Caleb's return to the majors after having been away for four seasons, it was solid pitching that kept him there, as his career in his 30's went on to outweigh what he had done in his 20's. He was a member of the Twins' bullpen until the end of the 2024 season, peaking with 67 appearances in 2022. He was 7-0 in 59 games in 2021, with a 3.23 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 64 innings. He finally picked up the first save of his career, in his sixth season and over nine years after his big league debut, on June 23, 2022 when he retired the final two outs of a 1-0 win over the Cleveland Guardians, in spite of giving up a double to the first batter he faced, Andres Gimenez. In 2023, he pitched 36 times, going 3-1, 3.23, after making two stints on the injured list, both because of a right oblique strain. He was healthy at the end of the season and made it back to the postseason, pitching twice while the Twins eliminated the Toronto Blue Jays in the Wild Card series, the team's first series win in October in eons. He added two more appearances in the Division Series against the Astros, but gave up runs in each time, and in Game 4 on October 11th, he came into the game early, starting the top of the 4th following a short outing by starter Joe Ryan. He quickly gave up a lead-off single to Yordan Alvarez, and two batters later José Abreu hit a two-run homer that put Houston ahead, 3-1. He failed to complete the inning, recording just one more out, and while the Twins managed to keep Houston from scoring any more runs in the game, they could only tally one run of their own and Caleb was charged with the 3-2 loss.

His ERA shot up in his final season with Minnesota in 2024, when it ended up at 5.32 in 59 games, the result of both his hit rate and walk rate going up. He was still striking out over a batter per inning - 53 in 47 1/3 innings, but his usage was more as a LOOGY than it had been in previous years, and with less success. He finished at 3-4, but did have 3 saves, his first since the one he had picked up two years earlier. The Twins missed the postseason and after the season, he became a free agent at age 37. After not pitching for anyone but Minnesota in 8 seasons at the major league level, he signed with another team, inking a one-year deal with the Chicago Cubs on December 31st.

Further Reading

• Jordan Bastian: "Cubs ink lefty Thielbar to one-year deal", mlb.com, December 31, 2024. [1]
• Phil Miller: "Thielbar called up by Twins; is Gibson next?", Minneapolis Star-Tribune, May 21, 2013. [2]

Related Sites

• Caleb Thielbar on mlb.com
• South Dakota State bio