Things are bad right now in the Chicago Cubs’ world. There’s no disputing that. Not only have they lost eight in a row, capped by last night’s five-run-lead-turned-into-a-blowout-loss, but there is really nothing to realistically hope on for this season except for development and trades. It sucks when the games, themselves, become more or less meaningless by June.
But about that development part: it’s not nothing! And if you’re gonna find something to enjoy, you might as well make it about a top prospect whose development is critical to the team in 2023.
Caleb Kilian is coming back up to start for the Cubs tonight, and dang if I don’t love watching him pitch. His first big league outing was, at first, one of the most dominant appearances we’ve seen from a Cubs pitcher in a long time. He hit a wall in the 4th inning, though, when he seemed to lose his release point. What I liked, though, is he was given a chance to come back out for the 5th inning, and he settled back down. That’s good experience right there. The final line was 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 K.
Also good experience is the opportunity to make a big league start, take some information away from it, go back to the controlled environment of the minors, and work on some things. Then, you come back up, and see what you can apply. It doesn’t mean Kilian will suddenly look even better this time around, but it is the kind of process you want to see for him this year.
As for the roster move later today, I wonder if we’ll see Nick Madrigal go in the IL to open up a spot for Kilian. He’s been out with a groin issue, and it’s possible the Cubs knew they were going to need a spot today, so they waited to IL him for that reason.