Thursday, March 19

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Gavin Kilen didn’t begin his professional career until he was drafted in the first round by the Giants last summer, but he’s technically been working from home for years.

When Kilen was 12, his father Chris set up an at-home batting cage in the 40-foot-by-40-foot garage next to the family’s house in Milton, Wis. Chris initially envisioned the facility -- now dubbed Kilen’s Cage -- as a place where his baseball-loving son could hit with his travel ball team year-round. But as Gavin grew, the space expanded with him.

“We just turned it into a science project,” Gavin said. “We tore it all out, turned it into a cage, and then we’ve just been renovating ever since.”   

Chris eventually installed new turf, lighting, heating and a weightlifting rig, giving Gavin all the tools he needed to hone his craft in his own backyard.

“It gave him the chance to be able to come right outside of his house and be able to go do something immediately by himself, if he wanted to,” Chris said in a phone interview. “He could do his own tee work. He could come throw. He could work ground balls against the wall. It started off for just his team, and then it turned into something with him more one-on-one when he really started to show changes in his ability to play the game at a higher level. It kind of all worked out from there, to be honest.”

Given the countless hours they spent training together in their garage, it felt fitting that Gavin, his parents and his two younger siblings ended up gathering at Kilen’s Cage to watch the MLB Draft unfold last year. They saw all their work pay off when Gavin was selected by the Giants with the 13th overall pick, giving the 21-year-old middle infielder a chance to turn pro and take the next step in his baseball journey. 

Now ranked San Francisco’s No. 5 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Kilen is part of a Giants farm system that’s loaded with other highly touted shortstops like Josuar Gonzalez (No. 2), Luis Hernández (No. 3) and Jhonny Level (No. 4). Kilen could be the first of that crop to arrive, though, as he possesses elite bat-to-ball skills and was a consensus first-team All-American at second base while playing for current Giants manager Tony Vitello at the University of Tennessee in 2025. 

“He reminds me of Ian Kinsler a lot,” Vitello said. “He’s a killer on the field, and I think he's got an intensity about him that the organization was looking for.”

Kilen made his professional debut with Single-A San Jose last summer, though he appeared in only 10 games before landing on the injured list with a hip injury. The left-handed hitter is now back to full strength and is expected to be one of the Giants prospects who will see action in Thursday’s Spring Breakout game at Scottsdale Stadium. 

Kilen’s dad was also drafted by the Twins out of high school and went on to pitch at Northeast Louisiana State (now the University of Louisiana-Monroe), where he played alongside future All-Star Ben Sheets. Chris’ own hopes of playing in the Majors were dashed when he suffered a career-ending elbow injury in college, but he later passed that dream onto Gavin, who showed promise on the field from an early age.  

“He could always play a little bit,” Chris said. “It came on a little late with his growth spurt and his strength, but his fundamentals were so good when he was younger. But then it was no push from that. Every time I turned around, Gavin was out in the garage hitting or throwing. Then it was, ‘Hey, it's 8 o'clock at night. Dad’s ready to kind of cool down from his other job.’ And Gavin's like, ‘Hey, can we go hit?’ And you're like, ‘Yeah, I can't turn that down.’ He wants to hit. He wants to get better, so we've got to go get that done.”

The younger Kilen said he considers his dad his biggest mentor, as he’s been coaching him in everything from hitting to the mental side of the game for his entire life. 

“My dad's everything,” Kilen said. “I 100% would not be where I am today without my dad. My dad is my hitting coach when I'm home. I talk to my dad two, three times a day. We're on the phone all the time talking about baseball and hitting and life.

“It's such a blessing to have a dad like I had. I love him so much. He did so many good things for me. He put me in such a good headspace. He pushed me a lot. It was always him with me on those long nights and early mornings. All the lifting, all the extra work. My parents worked really hard for my siblings and I to be very successful. All of us wouldn't be as successful as we are without them.” 

Kilen was viewed as one of the top prep bats in Wisconsin in 2022, when he was drafted in the 13th round by the Red Sox. But he ultimately decided to honor his college commitment to Louisville, where he played for two years before transferring to Tennessee for his junior season in ‘25.

“He's a very competitive kid, and he wants to be the best,” Chris said. “I think when he wasn't the first pick, he knew he was going to go to college. He was like, ‘I've got something to prove now. Somebody else didn't pick me first.’ He carries that chip, and he does a great job with that, because he's able to turn that into something positive when he plays.”

Kilen always had a knack for contact, but he worked with then-Tennessee hitting coach Josh Elander to tamp down on some of his aggressiveness and change his approach at the plate last year. He slashed .357/.441/.671 with a career-high 15 home runs and recorded more walks (30) than strikeouts (27) over 53 games as a Volunteer, a remarkable feat considering he drew only seven walks in 54 contests for Louisville in ‘24.

“It was a big thing between me and Elander,” Kilen said. “It was almost like, ‘We're going to change the process of your life.’ Looking back, I was a swinger at Louisville. It was like seven walks, but not a whole lot of strikeouts, so I got away with it. I put the ball in play a lot, but it was a lot of soft contact, a lot of chase. The big thing we worked on was understanding the strike zone and being able to put myself in better counts to do more damage. I honestly wouldn't say I think my power changed. I think I just put myself in more counts to do damage, to get more fastballs, or whatever pitch I was looking for in that at-bat.” 

Kilen’s success ended up putting both him and Vitello on a path to San Francisco. Vitello said the first time he spoke to president of baseball operations Buster Posey was when the Giants reached out to ask about Kilen in the lead-up to the Draft. That conversation sparked a relationship that culminated in Vitello’s historic leap from the college ranks to the Majors in October. 

“I was super ecstatic when I found out he was taking the job, just because I know how much he helped me in my career at Tennessee,” Kilen said. “Regardless of if I was there or not, his resume, what he's done with Tennessee baseball and everything else -- he's done such an incredible job. It's almost like, why would you not take a chance on a guy like Tony Vitello?” 

Kilen spent the first part of his offseason rehabbing his hip injury, but once he got healthy, he got back to work, splitting his time between his garage and two other indoor facilities in Wisconsin.

“It's tough being from Wisconsin or from the north, and you want to play baseball, just because you only have about three to four months of really good weather,” Kilen said. “It definitely challenges how much you love baseball and how much you want to play, in a good way, I would say, just because you have to really use facilities.”

When Kilen left for college, his dad decided to open up Kilen’s Cage to other local kids and offer hitting lessons as his full-time job. Demand has been high, as Chris said he now works with 200-250 players ranging in ages from 9 to 21. Gavin, of course, remains his most prominent alum and has been proudly wearing a Kilen’s Cage headband underneath his Giants cap during workouts this spring.  

“I try to rep my dad as much as I can,” Kilen said. “He's home in Wisconsin right now. He's doing his own lessons with kids and helping hopefully some more kids from Wisconsin to make it and play pro ball.

“It's blowing up pretty good.”

It might not be long until Kilen takes off for the Giants, too.

The Giants pared down their roster on Tuesday by optioning right-hander Blade Tidwell and reassigning infielder Jake Holton to Minor League camp. 

Tidwell, 24, had mixed results in his five Cactus League outings, but he flashed some intriguing stuff and should get a chance to contribute to the big league pitching staff this year.

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