Craig Kimbrel dominates in Gwinnett Stripers debut
Soon enough, Braves legend Craig Kimbrel will rejoin the major-league club in Atlanta. He began his season at the AA level with the Columbus Clingstones, where he made three appearances, tossing 3.1 innings of hitless baseball with six strikeouts. That led to a promotion to Gwinnett yesterday, where he made his first appearance last night, […] The post Craig Kimbrel dominates in Gwinnett Stripers debut appeared first on SportsTalkATL.com.
Soon enough, Braves legend Craig Kimbrel will rejoin the major-league club in Atlanta. He began his season at the AA level with the Columbus Clingstones, where he made three appearances, tossing 3.1 innings of hitless baseball with six strikeouts. That led to a promotion to Gwinnett yesterday, where he made his first appearance last night, again recording a perfect inning in which he needed just 10 pitches to do so.
Craig Kimbrel is not the same guy he was when he was first with the Braves over a decade ago. He no longer features a high-90s fastball, sitting 91-93 in last night’s game with the Stripers. However, he still has a devastating breaking ball and the ability to punch out batters at a high rate.
Even in a down year with the Orioles in 2024, in which he recorded a 5.33 ERA over 57 appearances, Kimbrel still struck out 12.6 batters per nine innings. That’s in line with the 12.3 K/9 he posted with the Phillies when he was an All-Star in 2023.
Given the Braves desperate need for more quality arms — both starters and relievers — I can’t imagine we’ll have to wait much longer to see the highly anticipated return of Craig Kimbrel with a tomahawk across his chest.
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Photographer: Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire
The post Craig Kimbrel dominates in Gwinnett Stripers debut appeared first on SportsTalkATL.com.
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