Caleb Thielbar was pitching for the independent league St. Paul Saints in 2011 and now he’s headed to the majors.
Minnesota signed Thielbar after he impressed with the Saints and he’s steadily climbed through the Twins’ farm system, putting together a very impressive stretch at Triple-A this year in which he’s allowed zero earned runs and a .105 opponents’ batting average in 11.1 innings since late April. Overall this season Thielbar has a 3.76 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 26.1 innings and he’ll get a look as the third left-hander in the Twins’ bullpen.
He was originally the Brewers’ 18th-round pick in 2009, but got released before advancing beyond Single-A and the Minnesota native had to settle for an independent league gig to keep pitching. Helluva story and based on his numbers in the minors Thielbar might actually stick around for a while.