Jed Hoyer Confirms Prospect is Coming Up Friday

The Chicago Cubs are still going to be without right-handed starting pitcher Jameson Taillon this weekend against the Miami Marlins, as he continues to recover from a groin strain. While fans were putting the context clues together since Tuesday, trying to figure out who would fill in for Taillon’s next turn in the starting rotation, Jed Hoyer cleared up the mystery and confirmed it on Wednesday.

Hoyer was on The Parkins & Spiegel Show on 670 The Score and he had two significant announcements. First, right-handed reliever Michael Fulmer will no longer be used as the closer or in high leverage spots out of the bullpen and right-handed pitcher Caleb Kilian is going to get the start for the Cubs in their series opener against the Marlins on Friday.

Kilian, 25, has not pitched for the Iowa Cubs at Triple-A since April 19. This week’s starting pitchers for Iowa were Javier Assad on Tuesday, Roenis Elías on Wednesday and Kyle Hendricks is making his first rehab start on Thursday.

It wasn’t too hard to figure out that Kilian was going to be the spot starter this weekend after he wasn’t scheduled to pitch in Iowa this week and he was the only other option already on the team’s 40-man roster.

Kilian made his MLB debut with the Cubs last year against the St. Louis Cardinals. He was OK in his first start at Wrigley Field, striking out six and allowing three runs on three hits and two walks in five innings.

However, the wheels completely came off for the right-handed pitcher and he only made two more starts in the big leagues before the Cubs optioned Kilian back to the minors. In three starts, Kilian walked 12 batters and surrendered 13 earned runs in 11.1 innings.

Heading into the 2022 season, Kilian was being talked about the next big stud in the Cubs rotation. By the end of 2022, the Cubs were left trying to figure out why the right-handed pitcher suddenly lost the ability to throw strikes.

It was revealed that Kilian pitched through a knee injury last year that did mess up his mechanics.

Flash forward to this season and his very first start with the Iowa Cubs was a disaster. Kilian allowed four home runs in 2.1 innings on April 2, giving up eight earned runs on nine hits. However, he has rebounded nicely after the atrocious season debut.

Caleb Kilian’s Last 2 Starts
4 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 K, 3 BB
5 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 4 K, 0 BB

Kilian is still working back into form and although fans should be excited to see him start against the Marlins, the expectations for him have definitely changed. Regardless, it is going to be good to see Kilian back up in the majors after it looked like he could have completely fallen off the face of the earth after the end of his 2022 season.

Oh and as far as Fulmer no longer being used in high leverage situations, good. Give those opportunities to Keegan Thompson or Jeremiah Estrada.