Craig Kimbrel’s career was trending toward Cooperstown, N.Y.
By the end of his age 30 season, Kimbrel established himself as one of baseball’s preeminent closers en route to amassing 332 saves. The Cubs haven’t seen that same level of dominance since Kimbrel signed a three-year, $43 million contract during the 2019 season. Kimbrel’s 41 appearances in a Cubs uniform have largely been forgettable.
Kimbrel hasn’t let the struggles of the last two seasons hinder his relationships with teammates. Over his 11-year career with four teams, Kimbrel learned to make an impact in other ways when the results didn’t go his way.
“Just because I’ve had a successful past doesn’t mean that I should expect or work any less or expect certain things to happen just because of that,” Kimbrel said Friday in a videoconference call from Mesa, Ariz. “With last year, hopefully I showed some guys that it doesn’t matter. What you’ve done or what situation you’re in, anything can happen. Everyone can go through hiccups. But with hard work and paying attention and the relationships around you, you can get through it.
“That’s a lot of what I got out of the last year was understanding that I can I can make a difference. Even if I’m not the best I can be on the field, I can still make a difference to the guys around me working through certain things.”
This is the first “normal” spring for Kimbrel since 2018 after sitting out the first two-plus months of the 2019 season before signing with the Cubs and last year’s shortened camp because of COVID-19. His September performance gave him a great framework to build off of in the offseason. In his eight September appearances, Kimbrel tossed 7? scoreless innings and struck out 13 without issuing a walk.
“One of my main focuses this winter was just trying to stay mechanically where I was at toward the end of last year and a handful of my last appearances was staying there,” Kimbrel said. “And I know if I can physically get to where I need to be everything else is coming together. I feel like I’m ready to go.”
Paying attention to arm placement and how the ball comes out of his hand is how Kimbrel helped turn around the end of his 2020 season. He continued to focus on those elements in the offseason. That won’t change once games start and his adrenaline gets pumping on the mound.
“What’s nice with the technology nowadays is not everything is all feel,” Kimbrel said. “A lot of times in the past, it’s OK, we need to find the feel and then once we find feel everything else will come. Well, now we have the technology that tells us that pitch did what you wanted it to do, even though it might not have felt well, that’s where you need to be.”
As the 2020 season progressed, Kimbrel saw an increase in his fastball velocity, and with the mechanical consistency came greater success with the pitch. Of the 16 fastballs that ended a plate appearance in September, only one, a Jedd Gyorko opposite-field single, resulted in a hit. Nine ended in a strikeout.
The Cubs bullpen looks a lot different for 2020 if Kimbrel carries over his September success. They need an arm who can consistently throw high-90s — he hit 99 mph in his final appearance last season — to contrast the pitchability of the rotation. Manager David Ross’ bullpen managing will become a lot easier if he knows he can reliably pencil in Kimbrel for save opportunities.
Aside from Kimbrel, whom Ross already has named the closer to start the season, and free-agent acquisition Brandon Workman, there aren’t many guarantees for spots in the bullpen on opening day.
Left-hander Kyle Ryan was placed on the COVID-19 list this week, and right-hander Rowan Wick is slowed by the same “intercostal issue” that cut short his 2020 season. Their situations could put a wrinkle into how the Cubs build the bullpen. It potentially sets up for more competition during camp than perhaps initially expected.
Right-hander Dan Winkler and left-hander Andrew Chafin should be part of the mix.
It all comes back to Kimbrel, though. If September was merely a mirage, a positive blip amid two years of struggles, the Cubs will really be counting on Workman to bounce back and other relievers to step up and shoulder more high-leverage spots. Kimbrel’s confidence at the onset of camp is encouraging. The next step is delivering results when games matter.
“There’s not too many guys who all throw the same way out in (our) bullpen; I think that’s by design,” Kimbrel said. “And we’ve got a lot of guys who spin the ball really well. … We have a strong group of guys that could be very successful. It’s just going out there and doing it.”
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