Although he was originally projected to be a hitter, he eventually revived his career by returning to pitching, which he had excelled at during his years with the Texas Longhorns.

[3] During his time with the Texas Longhorns, Kieschnick won the Dick Howser Trophy (bestowed annually to the national college baseball player of the year)[4] in 1992.

[7] Even though Kieschnick did not play a defensive position,[5] he was selected in the first round as the tenth overall pick of the 1993 amateur draft by the Chicago Cubs.

[12] He played 39 games and finished the season with a disappointing .200 batting average, 2 doubles, 4 home runs and 12 RBIs, while striking out 21 times.

[2] After the season ended, Kieschnick was selected as the 64th pick of the 1997 expansion draft by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays[2] and was regarded as "just another underachieving Cub.

Picked up by the Chicago White Sox a month later and signed to a minor league deal, Kieschnick then radically changed his career approach.

Nevertheless, in the 2002 season Kieschnick switched his primary focus to pitching, hoping to better his chances of making a major league roster as a pitcher who was also a versatile utility player.

He ended up spending the entire 2002 season in the minor leagues with the triple-A Charlotte Knights, appearing in 25 games as a relief pitcher, 1 as an outfielder and over 40 as either a pinch-hitter or DH.

Kieschnick played three complete games as a left fielder in September 2003; these would be his only on-field appearances as a defensive player for Milwaukee (outside of his role as pitcher) during 2003–04.

He subsequently spent the 2005 season in the Houston Astros minor league system, hitting .327 but also compiling a pitching record of 2–4 with an ERA of 5.12.

[18] In 2002, in an online poll conducted in Austin, Kieschnick was voted the best baseball player in the history of the University of Texas.