Caleb Thielbar - Minnesota Twins Underdog
“It’s different but it’s still baseball”
Caleb Thielbar grew up in Minnesota always wanting to play in the big leagues. On May 20th of 2013, he made his debut for his hometown Twins. Sounds like a dream story. But Moonlight Graham rarely focuses on someone’s direct path to success. This week, Tim sits down with Thielbar a little over 7 years later as he makes his return to the bigs from an injury and a long, winding rehab.
Growing up just outside of the Minneapolis suburbs, Caleb Thielbar was an unpolished lefty with lots of potential. At South Dakota State, Thielbar had success but didn’t feel like he had the velocity to take his game to the next level. In an effort to make the improvements in his game, Thielbar and his parents did some research on the internet and found a guy named Dick Mills who would analyze video of throwing mechanics and give you feedback for $350. After getting his report and an hour on the phone with Mills, Thielbar applied what he learned and put in the work to improve his mechanics. That fall, he was hitting the upper 80s and would eventually be throwing in the 90s before leaving SDSU. Thielbar played well for the Division I Jackrabbits and ended his career at or near the top in almost every pitching category in their record book; starts, innings pitched, strikeouts, and wins. In his final start, he threw a complete 10-inning game in the Summit League tournament to defeat Southern Utah, notching 12 strikeouts.
“That $350 has been repaid many times.”
That improvement in college was enough for the Milwaukee Brewers to take Thielbar in the 18th round of the 2009 draft. After 2 seasons playing in Rookie and A ball for the Brewers, Thielbar was released and headed home to play for the Saint Paul Saints. The Minnesota Twins signed him to minor league later in the 2011 season. Thielbar made the 40 man roster after the 2012 season and would spend one more season in the minors. Thilebar made his debut in May 2013, becoming the first SDSU Jackrabbit in Major League Baseball. He finished the season with the Twins pitching in 49 games and carrying a 1.76 ERA. He followed that up with 47 innings and a 3.40 ERA in 2014. He was sent down to AAA in the 2015 season and was designated for assignment, meaning he could be waived or released.
After playing for the Twins from 2013-2015, Thielbar spent a few years with a different Twin Cities ballclub, the St. Paul Saints for 2016. Nagging shoulder pain took the zip out of his fastball and left Thielbar struggling to find a path back into the majors. Over time, his arm started to feel better and his velocity started coming back. He had a lot of success in Saint Paul playing against high-level talent. In fact, he played so well that he earned a shot with the Miami Marlins in the spring of 2017.
Once he was in Miami, he was feeling good and playing well until everything started to fall apart. Having worked his way from the Brewers system to St. Paul and getting signed by the Twins, this second set back was really hard on Thielbar. He was released by the Marlins and went back to the Saints for a third stint. After a strong start in St. Paul and only giving up one run playing most of that season a serious oblique injury had him thinking about hanging up his cleats.
As he got feeling a little better, he called Ron Gardenhire who was now with the Detroit Tigers. His success in 2017 with the Saints was good enough to get him a minor league deal and he played very well with the AA Erie Seawolves and AAA Toledo Mud Hens. Before the 2017 season, he had started working with Driveline Baseball to improve his mechanics. After getting released by the Marlins, he really dove into the Driveline system to get a better understanding of his mechanics and spin using advanced technologies to allow in-depth analysis of the finest details and data that have allowed him to play at an even higher level than ever before.
“Just to fight and get back.”
Now in his second stint in Minnesota, Thielbar feels he is playing his best baseball. Five years after his last time toeing the mound, he made his return to the MLB for his childhood team. A journey that started in the Brewers system in 2009 took him through several ball clubs and completely rebuilding himself through the Driveline system. Through all of the twists and turns and 3 detours through Saint Paul, Caleb Thielbar is back in the big leagues and contributing to the Twins bullpen. He has already appeared in 6 games for the Twins and is enjoying the fruits of 5 years of hard work that it took to get back to the show.
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