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Deep Dive: Craig Kimbrel trending in the right direction

4 years agoLance Brozdowski

Velocity has never been an issue for Craig Kimbrel. His fastball has never averaged under 96 mph since his debut season with the Atlanta Braves in 2010.

When he stepped on the mound with the Cubs down by 1 run in the top of the 9th inning Friday night, two of his first three pitches sat above 97.7 mph, his two hardest pitches of 2020. His knuckle curve also reached a season high in velocity, eclipsing 87.1 mph for the first time this season. Although his velocity sank back to his season average as the inning went on, the life on his fastball sustained. He struck out Avisail Garcia on four pitches and Manny Pina on a fastball at the letters to end the inning.

“He looked really good,” David Ross said. “The feedback has been great every time I talk to the pitching guys [about] his bullpens.”

The start of Kimbrel’s 2020 has been rocky. Marquee Sports Network analyst Sean Marshall has kept a watchful eye on the righty, with our debut Deep Dive touching on Kimbrel’s momentum through his delivery and how his release point has changed throughout his career. Through 4 appearances prior to Friday’s clean inning, Kimbrel had allowed more earned runs and walked more batters than he had struck out.

Friday represented an important step in the right direction, but there’s still work to be done. While his delivery has improved, Marshall still sees some signs of Kimbrel falling off to the first-base side.

“When you do that, the ball is coming with you,” Marshall said.

An example of this was Kimbrel’s matchup against Justin Smoak after he struck out Garcia. Kimbrel got ahead 1-2 with a pair of knuckle curves but failed to locate his fastball and lost Smoak on the next three pitches of the at-bat. Thankfully, this seemed to be his only mishap of his strong outing.

Kimbrel had over a week off prior to pitching Friday, a product of the Cubs-Cardinals series postponement. He figures to resume a more consistent role moving forward after an outing like this. Soon, he may return to the closer’s role in the Cubs’ bullpen which has recently been occupied by right-hander Rowan Wick. 

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