The Giants have named Caleb Kilian their closer, manager Tony Vitello told reporters before tonight’s game against the Cubs (link via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). They had used a committee approach but is moving to stricter roles in what has become a problematic bullpen.
San Francisco inexplicably made almost no moves of consequence to improve the bullpen over the winter. They had one of the better relief groups in MLB for the first half of the 2025 season. They traded Camilo Doval and impending free agent Tyler Rogers at the deadline. That opened the ninth inning for Randy Rodríguez, then amidst a breakout All-Star season. He blew out in September and required Tommy John surgery, making the bullpen a clear area of need going into the offseason.
They nevertheless eschewed all but the reclamation portion of the bullpen market. They claimed Reiver Sanmartin off waivers and added injury rehabbers Jason Foley, Rowan Wick and Sam Hentges for a few million dollars. Kilian was among a handful of arms brought in on minor league deals.
The bullpen was surprisingly effective early on, carrying the second-lowest ERA in the big leagues through the end of April. Things have gone off the rails since then, as only the Reds and Rockies have a higher bullpen ERA than San Francisco’s 5.35 mark since the beginning of May.
Kilian has generally been among their most effective back-end arms. He only allowed one earned run in his first 14 appearances. Kilian struggled in May, punctuated by a five-run blowup at Coors Field to close the month, but has tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings over six appearances to start June.
The 29-year-old was a Giants draftee whom they traded to the Cubs in the Kris Bryant deal. Kilian was hit hard in limited MLB action between 2022-24 and spent most of last year on the minor league injured list. He has already easily established a career high with 29 2/3 MLB frames this season, posting a 3.34 ERA and 26% strikeout rate. Kilian’s average fastball has climbed to 96.7 mph after sitting 93-94 during his stint with the Cubs. He’s missing more bats as a result but issuing a lot of free passes as well.
Kilian has already picked up his first four saves this year. They’ve been scattered over the past month. It now seems they’ll try to zero in on him for the ninth inning while using other leverage arms like Keaton Winn and Erik Miller earlier in games. Ryan Walker, who logged three saves in April, was recalled this afternoon after spending five weeks in the minors. He’ll pitch more in the middle innings but said his goal is to work his way back to the ninth. Walker was lights out in 2024 but had an up-and-down ’25 season and allowed 12 runs in his first 15 1/3 innings this year.
