Craig Kimbrel One Step Closer to Return to Braves Bullpen

It will be his first time pitching at the Double-A level since he appeared with Double-A Mississippi in 2009.

He takes a big step toward getting fine-tuned on the mound. As of last week, manager Brian Snitker said that Kimbrel had been down at the complex in North Port, Fla., getting work in.

Kimbrel returned to the Braves organization on a minor-league deal toward the end of Spring Training. If he makes the Majors, he will have a $2 million salary kick in. 

Some of the plans have deviated from when he signed. 

According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, Kimbrel was expected to spend the next few weeks in Triple-A getting in shape. He’s yet to report to Gwinnnett. However, he very well could spend some time there during the process of getting in shape

Kimbrel’s reputation has been streaky since his first stint with the Braves ended a decade ago. In 294 games in Atlanta, he had a ridiculous 1.43 ERA. He was receiving comparisons to Mariano Rivera, who was in the final years of his legendary career when Kimbrel broke in, due to his rate of picking up saves - back when there was more affinity for the stat. 

However, since 2019, he’s had a career 3.90 ERA with multiple seasons with an ERA over 5.00. A surefire Hall of Famer saw his career go off the rails and now the expectation is he’s going to blow it. 

If Kimbrel can shine enough in the minors, he should get a chance to help the bullpen. They’ve been an inconsistent group this season. While it is a case that they haven’t been that bad, they’ve given up a lot of home runs and recently imploded in the 8-3 loss to the Rays on Sunday. 

The more options, the better. It’s icing on the cake that it could be their former star closer coming to save the day. 

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