Thielbar survived rocky path to reach peak with Cubs
Every major-league player has their own unique path.
Cubs pitcher Jameson Taillon, for example, was the No. 2 overall pick of the MLB draft coming out of high school in The Woodlands, Texas.
Reliever Caleb Thielbar, meanwhile, played four seasons of cold-weather, no-frills college baseball at South Dakota State, was drafted in the 18th round, released a few times, signed out of independent ball three different times and played for 11 affiliated minor-league teams. After all that, he's having arguably the best season of his life at 38.
Signed as a free-agent to specialize in facing left-handed batters, Thielbar currently has the third-best ERA (2.13) on the Cubs pitching staff, behind Ryan Brasier and Daniel Palencia.
“We've all had our struggles, just a matter of how you deal with it, mentally more than anything,” Thielbar said.
Thielbar grew up in Randolph, Minnesota, a small town south of Minneapolis. He averaged 20 points per game on the basketball team, which probably puts him in the running with Dansby Swanson for the best hooper in the Cubs clubhouse.
College baseball in Brookings, South Dakota was no picnic. During Thielbar's senior year, for example, the Jackrabbits played their first 26 games of the season on the road, and air travel was a rarity.
“We went to Washington State my senior year and we drove,” Thielbar said. “That's just how it was, that's what we signed up for. Our coaching staff didn't let it be an excuse for us.
“We had some crazy times there. We had a couple games at three in the morning, because of some weather and the scheduling of the Metrodome back in the day. That was the only time they had left, so that's when we played. We didn't think about it too much. That's just how it was.”
He was drafted by Milwaukee in the 18th round, released after two seasons, which began a familiar habit of joining the St. Paul Saints, which in those days was an independent team. Thielbar got noticed by the Twins and made his big-league debut in 2013 with Joe Mauer as his catcher, creating a rare battery of two Minnesota natives.
Eventually, Thielbar's Twins stint came to an end in 2015 and that's when he knew changes were needed. He got a boost by visiting Driveline Baseball Academy in Seattle, which helped with velocity and pitch performance.
He had to spent all of 2016 and part of the '17 season with St. Paul, but finally got another chance from Detroit, and later returned to the big leagues in 2020 after a five-year gap, again with the Twins.
“It's easy to blame the team and everything else when you get released,” he said. “But you have to look in a mirror, and it probably took me a year to do that. It's easy to be bitter, rather than truly examining what you need to do and why you were not able to get back in the game to begin with.”
At one point, Thielbar accepted a job as pitching coach at Augustana (South Dakota) University, but decided not to give up on being the thrower.
“My last outing in 2015 (with the Twins) was one of the best outings of my career,” he said. “They sent me down, and I just always thought that I had more left in the tank, and my body kept feeling good and I kept throwing well. Once I was started working with Driveline, I started gaining my velocity back and taking it higher than it ever had been.”
Since 2020, it's been relatively smooth sailing for Thielbar, with just a few outings for St. Paul, which is now the Twins Triple-A affiliate.
While his baseball career followed a winding path, so did his offseason homes. Thielbar's wife Carissa was a college basketball coach, so he followed her from Brookings to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. (Bucknell) to Fort Collins, Colorado. (Colorado State) and back to South Dakota State. She resigned after the 2023-24 season to focus on family.
“She had a good job and I'm very flexible and moved where we needed to move,” Caleb said. “Now she's here full-time, she's following me around.”