On Saturday, the Atlanta Braves had an ugly blowup loss where the bullpen faltered in the late innings. Thankfully, the one arm everyone has been keeping tabs on in the minors may soon be on his way back to Atlanta.
Braves insider and mlb.com beat writer Mark Bowman reported this morning that Craig Kimbrel pitched on back-to-back nights for the first time all year after Saturday night's outing with Triple-A Gwinnett. His fastball also averaged a season high 94.4 mph, suggesting Kimbrel has built up the arm strength to join the Major League bullpen in the near future. Bowman suggested the Kimbrel return could be as early as this week.
Kimbrel returning soon could force Braves to cut bait with Montero
On Saturday against Boston, Brian Snitker inexplicably went to Rafael Montero in a high leverage situation once again. Of course as we know the lead quickly evaporated. Most can understand Alex Anthopoulos' hope that Montero could be a passable piece for Atlanta's bullpen. Unfortunately, Montero is walking WAY too many batters (17.8 BB%) to be an effective big league reliever.
At first, it wasn't a sure thing Kimbrel could regain the necessary velocity to be a quality reliever himself, but last night's uptick in velo is certainly a reason to have confidence in Kimbrel returning to Atlanta. After Saturday's outing, Kimbrel owns a 1.38 ERA and has 15 strikeouts across 13 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. Despite Kimbrel not yet having his best stuff anymore, he's been able to find ways to get outs most of the time.
Meanwhile, Montero (5.06 ERA) and Enyel De Los Santos (4.05 ERA) continue to bite the Braves in clutch situations. Kimbrel's 440 career saves are proof he's been there, done that in these clutch situations. Better yet, the Braves don't need Kimbrel to finish ballgames anymore. They simply need a trustworthy middle relief arm.
No matter the role, if you're in the Braves bullpen at all it's likely Brian Snitker is going to put you in a high-leverage situation at some point during the season. Bowman's hint could signal the Braves are close to Kimbrel being inserted into the 'pen and one of the fringe relievers on their way out the door.