Caleb Thielbar's Secret Weapon (Free Preview)

[Parker Hageman]

You know about the increased velocity, but it's how he's using it that has turned him into an elite left-handed reliever.

Image courtesy of © Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

If things had gone differently, Caleb Thielbar might have been in South Dakota, conducting recruiting visits and game-planning for a Division II baseball program as Augustana’s pitching coach. 

If he didn’t seek help from Driveline Baseball, he might not have added the necessary velocity or maximized each pitch’s effectiveness. If he did not get invited onto USA Baseball’s Premier 12 roster in 2019 – one composed of mostly young prospects – he might not have caught the attention of scouts with his high spin curveball and his now low 90s fastball. 

Instead, he’s reporting alongside the other pitchers and catchers in Fort Myers next month, returning to the Minnesota Twins as one of the most valuable weapons in the bullpen. 

Thielbar’s age-35 season was pretty impressive. He struck out 32.7% of hitters faced (20th best among pitchers who faced 200 or more batters). He allowed the lowest hard-hit ball percentages (25.9%) than anyone not named Lucas Luetge. 

What is unique about Thielbar is that as he ages, his velocity increases – the rare Benjamin Button effect for pitchers. 

When pitchers increase velocity, they discuss expanding the ceiling and the floor. Thielbar was capable of reaching 92.8 in 2020 but sat at 89.8. The following season, he was topping at 95.3 while sitting at 91.3. This past season, while the ceiling didn’t move much (he maxed at 95.5), his average fastball velocity was now at 92.8. 

Moreover, Thielbar’s secondary pitches also saw a good amount of velocity spike. In 2020, his curve averaged 68.7 but was up to 73.0 mph in 2022. The slider averaged 77.5 in 2020 and was now up to 81.3. 

Thielbar had a well-documented transformation at Driveline. Their pitching experts found minor issues with his mechanics overall. But they did find one area for him to attack in his remote training. Plyo drills, prescribed thanks to Driveline’s biomechanics analysis that revealed he had lower than usual hip-shoulder separation at foot plant, helped him improve this area of his mechanics and aided some of his velocity gains. 

He also acknowledged that he was trying to throw harder, as crazy as that sounds. When you compare the 2020 mechanics to this past year’s, you can visually see someone who indeed appears to be trying to throw harder. 

Still, Thielbar’s velocity improvement remained below average for major league left-handed relievers. Despite the gains, Thielbar’s fastball was at the 39th percentile for velocity in 2022. Nevertheless, at a 17.9% swinging strike rate, his fastball missed more bats than every reliever besides Pittsburgh’s David Bednar (who threw his at a slightly crisper 96.5 mph on average)*. 

So how was it so effective?  Well that requires a deeper dive, available only to Twins Daily's Caretakers. Our Caretakers take care of the site and in return, we take care of them. That includes us investing in deeper dive stories, like this story, and others by Parker Hageman, Matthew Trueblood and others. Caretakers also get free Winter Meltdown tickets, acknowledgement in the forums, and other perks. 

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[Mark G]

While I love the increase in his fastball and slider, I kind of liked that 68 mph curve ball.  ?  When you know he has a fastball in the low to mid 90's, and can put it right up at your letters, how do you not buckle when that curve comes floating in?  All he needs is to spot his pitches and mix them up right, and he is really good.  

With his story, I just can't help but pull for the guy.  I hope he has a great year, because if he does we just might too.

[Parker Hageman]

13 minutes ago, Mark G said:

While I love the increase in his fastball and slider, I kind of liked that 68 mph curve ball.  ?  When you know he has a fastball in the low to mid 90's, and can put it right up at your letters, how do you not buckle when that curve comes floating in?  All he needs is to spot his pitches and mix them up right, and he is really good.  

With his story, I just can't help but pull for the guy.  I hope he has a great year, because if he does we just might too.

The interesting thing about Thielbar's curveball is that during his pitch design process while out of the Twins system, he tried to design it to mirror Kershaw's breaking ball -- and got pretty close!

Thielbar actually matched the movement closely. In 2020, it had more inches of break but was thrown above 5 mph slower on average.

Over the next two seasons, Thielbar added more horizontal movement (sweep) to the pitch. That's a big component of the Twins' pitching department -- getting horizontal movement on breaking pitches. They like late movement -- sliders, cutters -- and want more sweep with most of their curves now. 

This past year the two left-handed pitchers shared the same average velo (73.0 for Thielbar, 73.2 for Kershaw) but now Thielbar's curve moves more horizontally (10.5 inches of break for Thielbar, 4.9 for Kershaw).

Is it better? For Thielbar, the performance on that pitch has actually gotten worse. It's possible that the new shape has helped the fastball or slider.

[tony&rodney]

Thielbar is a fun pitcher to watch with his slow curve and surprising fastball. Hopefully he can keep going for several more years and cash in on his hard work.

[Brandon]

I'm rooting for Theilbar to end up with at least 500-600 games pitched when he retires.  that's 4-5 more seasons of 60-70 appearances per season.  

[roger]

Question, Parker?  
 

I often read that player X made Y adjustments over the winter and reports to Spring Training as a better player.  My question, why aren’t the large group of coaches each team has finding these adjustments to make the player better?

[old nurse]

1 hour ago, roger said:

Question, Parker?  
 

I often read that player X made Y adjustments over the winter and reports to Spring Training as a better player.  My question, why aren’t the large group of coaches each team has finding these adjustments to make the player better?

You don’t what the coaches may or may not have tried during the season to adjust. Sometimes it could be in the the parting instructions what to work on.  There was a pitcher that pitched for the Twins, got traded and was pitching better. A sportswriter asked him what was different in what they told him there than Minnesota. He said there was no difference. His pitch mix changed. Sometimes player just do not want to do

[Parker Hageman]

15 hours ago, roger said:

Question, Parker?  
 

I often read that player X made Y adjustments over the winter and reports to Spring Training as a better player.  My question, why aren’t the large group of coaches each team has finding these adjustments to make the player better?

Really good question.

A lot of organizations have coaches/staff that are working on identifying things they can improve. I know from the Twins' pitching side, they do extensive research in trying to figure out optimal pitch selection or go over biomechanical reviews to see if they can improve a pitcher with some movement work. (I discussed some of this in my Jorge Lopez piece.)

The other side of the coin is that they have to get players to embrace these changes. There are some that are very interested in changing and, notably a free agent acquisition a few years ago, some are not. So it's a two-way street. 

In addition to what a team provides, players are often using the offseason to train at professional facilities that have equal amounts of technology and their own ideas of how a player should improve (Thielbar's time at Driveline is a prime example). I work at a facility that has multiple pro guys at it and there is a big difference between how they handle their pitchers.

The Twins and Brewers have people that check in on the work their prospects are doing during the offseason. They give them detailed plans. I also know that not all organizations do the same. One local pitcher from another organization said that his org provided no direction on what to work on. He was on his own to make improvements and adjustments. Good luck and get better. 

So there is a lot that fans do not see in terms of the process. 

[Tk33]

Rah Rah Rabbits.  Go Jacks.  That is all.