SCOTTSDALE, Arizona — You’ll forgive us if Bleed Cubbie Blue seems like “The Caleb Kilian Site” this morning, but I am quite excited about what the Cubs pitching prospect did in the Arizona Fall League championship game between the Mesa Solar Sox and Surprise Saguaros, which I attended at Salt River Fields, normally the Spring Training home of the Diamondbacks and Rockies.
Kilian retired all 18 Surprise hitters he faced, throwing 48 strikes in 68 pitches. He was throwing what baseball folks call “easy gas,” consistently hitting 95 or 96 on the ballpark pitch speed meter and touching 98 a couple times.