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“FENWAY'S BEST PLAYERS”  |
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For as long as Craig Kimbrel could remember, he strode off the mound after his pitch to catch the ball, then walked back up the mound to the rubber. He rubbed the baseball in his hands, then stood on the mound, staring in at the plate, like a bird of prey before coming set, and delivering the pitch. It was his unique
style.
The Atlanta Braves selected Kimbrel in the third round, of the 2008 MLB draft. In August 2011, he broke the rookie record for saves in a season and had a scoreless inning streak of 38 1⁄3 innings. The Baseball Writers' Association of America gave him the unanimous selection for "Rookie of the Year". Kimbrel was dominant again throughout the 2012 season and finished with an ERA of 1.01 to win the NL Rolaids "Relief Man Award". In 2014, he recorded his 155th save, surpassing John Smoltz as the Braves all-time leader in saves. In 2015, Kimbrel was traded to the San Diego Padres. One of the first moves that Dave Dombrowski made after becoming the new President of Baseball Operations of the Red Sox was trading for Kimbrel. He came to the Sox in exchange for five minor leaguers. With a 1.63 ERA, the lowest ever through age 27, when Kimbel stepped on the mound for the Red Sox in 2016, fans were expecting more of that. What they got instead was a good closer with control issues. He injured his knee while taking warmups in July and an MRI revealed that there was a tear in the medial meniscus of the left knee that required surgery. He didn't return until the start of August. The next season, in 2017, Kimbrel bounced back with a season for the ages. Against the Milwaukee Brewers Kimbrel threw an immaculate inning. He was the 5th Red Sox pitcher to record the win in an All-Star Game. He was excellent, recording 35 saves with a 1.43 ERA for the Sox. Unfortunately for Kimbrel, his 2018 season felt a whole lot more like his 2016 season than it did his 2017. He passed many milestones, however. At age 29, he recorded his 300th career save, achieving the milestone in only 330 save opportunities and thus becoming the youngest pitcher to ever do so. He was named to the 2018 MLB All-Star Game, and for the Red Sox World Championship season, recorded 42 saves in 63 appearances, pitching to a 2.74 ERA with 96 strikeouts. The numbers were still elite on the surface, but it was much more similar to 2016 than his off-the-charts 2017 year. So after the season, Kimbrel and the Sox parted ways. He became a free agent in 2019 and signed with the Cubs in July.
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