2023 Stats
W-L
3-1
ERA
5.85
WHIP
1.30
K
32
SV
7
Rest-of-Season Projections
2023 Fantasy Outlook
The Dodgers immediately announced Kimbrel as their closer upon acquiring him despite a shaky second half in 2021 and a poor spring with velocity concerns. Kimbrel had a solid first month with Los Angeles, but was inconsistent from that point forward. He threw his historically dominant curveball roughly 10% less often (31.5% pitch usage) while losing some zip on his fastball, which proved to be ineffective. As a result, his strikeout rate plummeted by 15 percent, from 42.6% to 27.7%. The 34-year-old was able to rack up 22 saves, but officially lost the closer job in late September despite the distribution of saves chances signaling a committee much earlier than that. Kimbrel recorded only eight of the Dodgers' 23 saves after July 1 and was subsequently left off their playoff roster. The active saves leader in baseball, he secured a one-year, $10 million pact with the Phillies and should be the favorite for saves to open the season, but it's likely to be a committee approach with Seranthony Dominguez, Jose Alvarado and Gregory Soto also in the mix. Read Past Outlooks

Collects seventh save
Kimbrel struck out two but gave up a solo home run in the ninth inning Saturday to record his seventh save of the season in a 2-1 win over Atlanta.
ANALYSIS
After Zack Wheeler fired eight scoreless frames, Kimbrel was entrusted to close out the combined shutout, but instead his full-count fastball to Sean Murphy caught too much of the inner half of the plate and got driven over the left-field wall. It's the fifth long ball Kimbrel has served up in 20 innings, leaving him with a 5.85 ERA, but he also sports a 32:11 K:BB and has yet to blow a save chance this season. The 35-year-old righty will likely return to a secondary role in the Phillies' closer committee when Jose Alvarado (elbow) gets healthy.
After Zack Wheeler fired eight scoreless frames, Kimbrel was entrusted to close out the combined shutout, but instead his full-count fastball to Sean Murphy caught too much of the inner half of the plate and got driven over the left-field wall. It's the fifth long ball Kimbrel has served up in 20 innings, leaving him with a 5.85 ERA, but he also sports a 32:11 K:BB and has yet to blow a save chance this season. The 35-year-old righty will likely return to a secondary role in the Phillies' closer committee when Jose Alvarado (elbow) gets healthy.
Pitching Stats
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2022
2021
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2023 MLB Game Log
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Minor League Game Log

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Pitching Appearances Breakdown
Average Pitch Count
16
Last 10 Games
18
Last 5 Games
19
How many pitches does Craig Kimbrel generally throw?
1-10
11-20
21-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
61-70
71-80
81-90
91-100
101-110
111-120
121+
What part of the game does Craig Kimbrel generally pitch?
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
Extra
% Games Reaching Innings Threshold
% Games By Number of Innings Pitched
Left/Right Pitching Splits
Since 2021
-6%
BAA vs RHP
2023
-43%
BAA vs LHP
BAA | K | BB | H | HR | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Since 2021vs Left | .199 | 91 | 22 | 46 | 7 | |||
Since 2021vs Right | .188 | 113 | 40 | 51 | 8 | |||
2023vs Left | .136 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 1 | |||
2023vs Right | .240 | 19 | 7 | 12 | 4 | |||
2022vs Left | .261 | 29 | 11 | 29 | 3 | |||
2022vs Right | .193 | 43 | 17 | 22 | 1 | |||
2021vs Left | .143 | 49 | 7 | 14 | 3 | |||
2021vs Right | .157 | 51 | 16 | 17 | 3 | |||
More Splits→ | View More Split Stats |
Home/Away Pitching Splits
Since 2021
-40%
ERA at Home
2023
-87%
ERA at Home
ERA | WHIP | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Since 2021Home | 2.62 | 0.94 | 75.2 | 13.2 | 3.4 | ||||
Since 2021Away | 4.36 | 1.38 | 64.0 | 13.1 | 4.6 | ||||
2023Home | 1.54 | 0.69 | 11.2 | 13.9 | 3.1 | ||||
2023Away | 11.88 | 2.16 | 8.1 | 15.1 | 7.6 | ||||
2022Home | 3.41 | 1.14 | 34.1 | 11.0 | 3.4 | ||||
2022Away | 4.21 | 1.56 | 25.2 | 10.5 | 5.3 | ||||
2021Home | 2.12 | 0.81 | 29.2 | 15.5 | 3.6 | ||||
2021Away | 2.40 | 1.00 | 30.0 | 14.7 | 3.3 | ||||
More Splits→ | View More Split Stats |
Stat Review
How does Craig Kimbrel compare to other relievers?
This section compares his stats with all relief pitcher seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 30 innings)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.
* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 30 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 30 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
K/BB
2.91K/9
14.4BB/9
5.0HR/9
2.3Fastball
95.7 mphERA
5.85WHIP
1.30BABIP
.291GB/FB
0.76Left On Base
68.4%Exit Velocity
82.5 mphBarrels/BBE
5.4%Spin Rate
2431 rpmBalls Hit 95+ MPH
22.8%Swinging Strike
13.6%Advanced Pitching Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Stats Vs Today's Lineup
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
There are a ton of narratives surrounding Kimbrel's late-season struggles, with the most popular being he didn't like being the White Sox's setup man. While changing roles after a career as a closer may have had something to do with it, degrading skills may also be in play here. From the start of the season until being traded, he had a 15.7 K/9 and 0.49 ERA with a 97.0 mph average fastball. After the trade, he had a 14.1 K/9 and 5.09 ERA with a 95.9 mph average fastball. In 2019, Kimbrel's fastball velocity averaged 96.2 mph and he posted a 6.53 ERA. He really needs his fastball over 97 mph to be effective. It wasn't just the strikeouts -- his walks allowed jumped from 3.2 BB/9 to 3.9 BB/9. The combination saw his K-BB% drop from 37.2% to 26.5%. He gained a massive boost to his fantasy value when he was traded from the White Sox to the Dodgers in early April, and manager Dave Roberts has confirmed that the right-hander will serve as the team's closer. He'll likely need to show increased velocity if he hopes to replicate his results from the first half of the 2021 campaign, but he's a much more appealing fantasy option now that he'll be closing out games for one of the best teams in baseball.
More Fantasy News

Records career save No. 400
Kimbrel walked one in a scoreless ninth inning Friday to record his sixth save of the season in a 6-4 win over Atlanta.
ANALYSIS
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Earns win in extras
Kimbrel (3-1) earned the win Wednesday against the Diamondbacks, striking out one in a perfect 10th inning.
ANALYSIS
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Notches fifth save
Kimbrel picked up the save in Sunday's 2-1 victory over the Cubs. He allowed a run on a hit and a walk while striking out two over one inning.
ANALYSIS
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Locks down fourth save
Kimbrel allowed a hit and struck out three in a scoreless inning to earn the save in Friday's 6-3 win over the Rockies.
ANALYSIS
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Struggles in first loss
Kimbrel (1-1) took the loss in Wednesday's 10-6 loss against the Dodgers. He allowed four runs on two hits and two walks while striking out one over one-third of an inning.
ANALYSIS
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