Cubs sign relief pitcher Hoby Milner

Hoby Milner (YouTube)

The Chicago Cubs have signed relief pitcher Hoby Milner of Dallas, Texas to a one-year contract worth $3.75 million according to the Associated Press on Thursday. Milner will now reunite with Cubs manager Craig Counsell of South Bend, Indiana. Milner was a pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers while Counsell managed the Brewers from 2021 to 2023.

The Cubs are Milner’s sixth Major League Baseball team. In addition to the Brewers who Milner pitched four seasons with from 2021 to 2024, he pitched two seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies (2017 to 2018), two seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays (2018 to 2019), and one season each with the Los Angeles Angels (2020) and Texas Rangers (2025).

In 73 games with the Rangers last season, Milner had a record of three wins and four losses with an earned run average of 3.84. During 70 1/3 innings pitched, Milner gave up 68 hits, 30 earned runs, five home runs, and 21 walks, to go along with 18 holds, 58 strikeouts, and a WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) of 1.27.

In an interesting note, Milner is the only player in Major League Baseball history with the first name of Hoby. While attending high school in Fort Worth, Texas, Milner was a multi-sport athlete. In addition to playing baseball, Milner played high performance football. He was a punter and a kicker. Originally drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 2009 MLB Draft, Milner did not sign right away and instead decided to pitch for the University of Texas Longhorns of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. He would be drafted by the Phillies in the 2012 MLB Draft.