Craig Kimbrel 2024

[Malike]

I saw this earlier and I'm not sure if it's accurate but I'm not too worried either way, he's going to be pretty reliable this year and will blow some saves, just like Felix.

 

[CaptainRedbeard]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

Kimbrel continues to throw 2.6 MPH slower than last year, but his vertical movement is the best of his career so far. His curveball has been unhittable this year and has the most horizontal movement of his career. His command has been outstanding on both of his offerings.

Maybe Kimbrel has found that he has more command at this velocity or maybe he just needs warmer weather to "warm up" but for now, the results have pretty amazing since the blown save.

 

 

With a lot of velos down across the board for many Orioles pitchers (more than just “early season” amounts) but nobody hitting the IL yet (fingers crossed) and a lot of really good pitching performances command-wise, I’ve been wondering if this is influence of a new organizational pitching philosophy. We have the new pitching coach, and I’m curious if this could be a next frontier of analytics.

We know that for a pitch in the same location, more velo and more movement are better…but also know that location matters a lot. Throwing at less than max velo for better location should in theory improve your effectiveness if it improves your command enough. And for some pitches, less velo can also mean more movement. There’s also the obvious hypothesis that throwing at a lower percentage of max velo reduces injury risk. I haven’t seen any Orioles media comments to support this being a conscious initiative and it’s not universal for every pitcher, but I’m wondering if it could be the case. 

[interloper]

Just now, CaptainRedbeard said:

With a lot of velos down across the board for many Orioles pitchers (more than just “early season” amounts) but nobody hitting the IL yet (fingers crossed) and a lot of really good pitching performances command-wise, I’ve been wondering if this is influence of a new organizational pitching philosophy. We have the new pitching coach, and I’m curious if this could be a next frontier of analytics.

We know that for a pitch in the same location, more velo and more movement are better…but also know that location matters a lot. Throwing at less than max velo for better location should in theory improve your effectiveness if it improves your command enough. And for some pitches, less velo can also mean more movement. There’s also the obvious hypothesis that throwing at a lower percentage of max velo reduces injury risk. I haven’t seen any Orioles media comments to support this being a conscious initiative and it’s not universal for every pitcher, but I’m wondering if it could be the case. 

It would not surprise me if the O's are ahead of the game on this. We also have the fewest walks in the game right now I think, or we did prior to last night at least. French has said he preaches strike 1, which isn't anything remarkable, but we are doing that pretty well. 

[Say O!]

1 minute ago, Malike said:

I saw this earlier and I'm not sure if it's accurate but I'm not too worried either way, he's going to be pretty reliable this year and will blow some saves, just like Felix.

 

Indeed a bit of a concern, though was cold/wet and he was working back-to-back nights.  Sometimes too pitchers go through “dead arm” periods early in the season and then revert to normal as that dissipates.  Will be something for Hyde/wizards to track…Kimbrel at this point in career may just be every other day kinda closer, and therefore that will dictate how Cano gets deployed. We’ve kinda already seen some of this, with Coulombe getting 8th, Cano held back from 8th in Pitts and only working one batter last night. 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

 

[Ven6]

Back up to 95-96 today. Glad to see that. 

[Jagwar]

11 minutes ago, Ven6 said:

Back up to 95-96 today. Glad to see that. 

The last curve he threw to end the game was freaking nasty. 

[Say O!]

17 minutes ago, Ven6 said:

Back up to 95-96 today. Glad to see that. 

 

6 minutes ago, Jagwar said:

The last curve he threw to end the game was freaking nasty. 

Yeah was top notch closer stuff today striking out the side.  He has been nails so far this season, glad we signed him. 

Edited April 14 by Say O!

[Orioles West]

5 minutes ago, Jagwar said:

The last curve he threw to end the game was freaking nasty. 

Yes it was! My wife heard my (bleep) yeah yell and she was outside of our house. As Big Ben noted, our pitchers today were at their best in the moments they needed to be.

[Malike]

He gets a ton of extension for a small guy which helps his fastball play up, and he's been very good at the top of the zone with it.

[luismatos4prez]

He's faced 21 batters in 2024. 11 Ks, 3 hits (all singles), 0 BBs. Outstanding acquisition so far.

[Malike]

Just now, luismatos4prez said:

He's faced 21 batters in 2024. 11 Ks, 3 hits (all singles), 0 BBs. Outstanding acquisition so far.

2 of them were bloops and the other was a groundball that looked like it could have been knocked down at least by a more experienced 2B.

[baltfan]

I am shocked how confident I am when he comes into the game. I don’t really think I was more confident with Bautista even though he was the better pitcher.  Kimbrel’s control is comforting. 

[Malike]

3 minutes ago, baltfan said:

I am shocked how confident I am when he comes into the game. I don’t really think I was more confident with Bautista even though he was the better pitcher.  Kimbrel’s control is comforting. 

He's at the end of a borderline HoF career. He's seen it all and doesn't seem to get rattled.

[baltfan]

3 minutes ago, Malike said:

He's at the end of a borderline HoF career. He's seen it all and doesn't seem to get rattled.

And the stuff is still good. His fastball jumps on batters.