The Story Behind Craig Kimbrel's Sudden and Bizarre Decline 

As a cubs fan it’s really weird to look back and see that he could actually throw strikes

2021: One of the best relief pitchers in baseball, again

I remember watching him in Atlanta and it was almost always a lock when they showed that bullpen door open and Welcome to the Jungle started playing. It’s so sad to see what he’s turned into over the last couple seasons.

He should use his large ass contract and pay the medical bills for all the heart attacks he gave Red Sox fans in 2018

who’s here when he’s back to the best closer in baseball now

I’ve always believed that the biggest factor is: in his prime only him and Chapman were the two main arms lighting up the radar gun. Now pretty much almost every pitcher is throwing 96+ with movement

He's back to elite form lol

For whatever reason they wanted him to develop a change up. The change up helped him develop a bad habit to drop his arm angle that carried over into his curve ball delivery. That threw the curve ball off the plate significantly and much more inconsistent of a pitch. Get behind in the count when you can't locate your second pitch and they can hone on the fastball. Fastballs are easy to hit 2-1, 3-1. Not so much at 0-2.

he back, with vengeance

I commented 9 months ago that like Darvish, Kimbrel would return to proper form after 2 years. I was right you were wrong.

Craig Kimbrel: Padre Legend

first 26 appearances of 2021 he has a 0.69 ERA 0.69 WHIP 16 Saves through 26.0 innings

There’s a reason Sox fans nicknamed him Kardiac Kimbrel. He gave us a heart attack every time he took the mound.

he’ll be in the hall of fame for the braves

"Everyone is bound to regress at some point" - Mariano Rivera would like to have a word with you

This was an amazing video! I love the way you broke down everything statistically and methodically, was a really fun watch. I know it's been mentioned by others, but Wade Davis was darn near uninhabitable on KC and now, well, I'm not sure he's major league quality. I'd love to hear about why he's had such a hard time lately. Is it just Coors, age, or something else? Nonetheless great video!

So when are you gonna do the updated version of this video??

Someone needs to send this to Ross on Twitter or something

I remember watching this guy pitch for the Sox and seeing the warning signs. Underwhelming fastball control and hanging curves. This was only a matter of time

That’s O.K., we had him(Craig Kimbrel) long enough in Boston to bring us A World Series Ring. At times he was A Time Bomb, but there were moments when HE WAS CLUTCH WHEN IT MATTERED MOST!

This video hasn’t aged quite so well

Craig Kimbrel when he saw this And I took that personally...

this popped up into my recommended and i was shocked when i saw you only had 1k subs. Keep up the good work brotha

I’m glad he’s “awful” now. Go Cubs

Your channel is honestly excellent and im amazed you only have 5k subs. You are bound to have more man

i just find your channel, incredible content bro, keep it up!!!

This content is fantastic! I'm shocked you don't have more views. Hopefully the algorithm will bless you

Great video. Tons of great info and impressive research on Kimbrel. I will be a new subscriber!!

You should beat Foolish Baseball to the idea of a Rockies super bullpen failure (Shaw, McGee, Davis)

So well researched and presented

Great analysis. This all makes a lot of sense. Good job.

Great video! You should do Chris Davis next.

What a great video. Very well done.

Great content 👍🏻 really like this channel

As a cubs fan this guy is scary

I hope you come back to this. He got back to striking out 2+ batters an inning. Would love to see what he changed to finish out 2020 (probably throwing his curve down in the zone for strikes) Subscribed

Found this video And it felt like finding a gold mine. Great stuff man

Haven't watches this channel in maybe a month or two, just saw this video with over 20k views and double the subscribers from before! Way to go! Also great video what a crazy story of Kimbrel

I've watched every inning of every cubs game this year cause thats what miserable fans do. It's so much to do with his location of both pitches. His last couple appearances he's used the curve to set up the fastball a lot and he's gotten more swings and misses on it. I hope its a sign of good things to come for him

My God, now we might need a resurgence analysis. He. Is. Absolutely. DEALING.

I've been a fan of your work with SRS and really like your takes. Really surprised you don't have more subs. Keep up the great work. And if I can throw in a video topic, can you do a vid on Jansen or Jonathan Broxton?

I was upset but I understood why the Braves got rid of Kimbrel (beginning of a rebuild, what use is a closer?). But man his performances after made me feel like the Bravos dodged a bullet.

Very well researched and put together video! I shall subscribe to you sir

Great hustle Mr. Storm

And now he’s one of the best closers again, a 2023 all star, and has perfect number of saves for the Phillies this season.

This video didn’t age well…but it’s still super interesting!

As an Astros fan even though I still hold a grudge, I'm just so surprised how he went from Legend to one of the worst, I always knew he was amazing but now he's just a former shell of himself

Great vid dude

Wild Thing! You make my heart sing!

David Ross watching this video: WRITE THAT DOWN, WRITE THAT DOWN!!

As relevant as ever now. I’d also like to include Aroldis Chapman, who physically cannot pitch anymore. Both him and Kimbrel have had the highest peaks as closers for years. Kimbrel’s decline has been steep, but Chapman’s has been even worse. And I don’t know if he can find it again.

Just by watching the braves clips, he had such a high spin rate on the 4seam riser

The Braves knew exactly what was up. I was bummed when he left, boy that didn’t last long ..

Great video. Very complete. I'm not totally convinced pitchers are throwing harder today. I think the methodology for measuring speed has changed; making it tricky to compare. Speed guns now measures the ball coming out of the hand. If you pay attention to a game, watch the speed reading on the game ticker; it'll show before the ball reaches the plate. I think this makes a big difference since it assumes ball speed is constant throughout its trajectory.

Great video

He was SO good this year for the Cubs, I don't know what happened after he got traded though

I’ve just started watching your videos and was wondering if you could make a video on Jason Kendall. Personally I believe he is one of the most underrated catchers in the game and wanted to know your thoughts on his career

As a brewer fan kimbrel is my favorite cubs player, helped us win a lot of games in 2019 lol

Very high quality video for such a small channel

I personally think his problem is that he got to greedy for money, and signed to late into the season. If he had gone for less and started at a normal time I believe that he would have been all right, but he was out of the league for too long, and was so greedy for money that he caused his own downfall.

im here and kimbrel's back to being a rock and has been splendid for CHC this szn

Beautiful video

Your content is greattt like compared to channels like giraffeneckmark you are very very good and he has like 200k subs and yours is a small one so that shows a lot. Keep it up and if u get consistency your channel is going to be very big one day.

Bruh. The fact that you only have 16k subs is a travesty. Keep up the good work, great vids.

His last 4 outings we've been seeing glimpses of the old Kimbrel whatever issues he was having whether it was mechanical, mental or a combination of both he looks to be on the right track. In those appearances he's pitched 3.2 innings 0 Hits 3 Walks 9 strikeouts with no runs allowed.

Great video! You should do one on Mariano! What made him so effective, for so long.

I would like to give this video some constructive criticism. Don't forego including Innings Pitched for the Win/Loss record. If you have to pick between the two, go with IP. I love what you're doing with your channel. I just found you randomly, but I've dropped a sub already. Keep up the good work, man!

I remember when Kimbrel first came up and he was like a reverse copy of teammate Billy Wagner. Billy sustained a long and successful career, in addition to providing guidance to Craig- one would think Kimbrel would follow his footsteps in longevity... I have hopes he can re-invent (Rick Kranitz can do it!). Man he was so exciting to watch... Just as Billy was at age 38.

Aaaaaaaaye a fellow OOTP player. My most notable achievements on that game are getting my Nats to the WS in 2019 and somehoe getting Britton for Barraclough

From a braves fan it's really sad watching him now knowing what he used to be.

Nice video

As a cub fan, I've liked what I've seen from him lately. Yes the start of 2020 was a disaster and 2019 wasn't great, but he's been lights out for the past month and his velocity is back up to 98. I don't think he will be what he was on the Braves but I think if he can continue to do what he's doing now he can at least be what he was on San Diego. Which is all we need.

Did anyone else see the royals fans cheer when their player struck out at 7:30 ?

But then in 2021, Kimbrel returned to what he was earlier in the early 2010s, posting an ERA, (so far, as of June 14 2021) of 0.68 with the Cubs.

Good video.

I hope he finds some magic again. I played against him all through high school, so it was really cool to see someone from my hometown being so good in the league.

Amazing video but one thing i dont think you covered was an explanation for his loss of command? Do you think him regaining his command would solve a lot of his problems?

Wondering if you could do a video on the 2020 Braves and the epic meltdown in the LCS.

Great advice. Push for more movement on his fastball. How novel.

OOTP! Definitely Following

Honestly though some thing that could have contributed to this is the late signing I mean name be a relief pitcher that has any success when being signed right before the season. And no I am not saying he would would be back at form if he signed early but he gotten thrown into the fire lost his mojo which is huge for a reliever and sped up his decline.

Hopefully Ross and Cubs pitching coach and learn from your video and use that to fix Kimbrel's past struggles, hope that will make him the guy to go back to his young days with the Braves.

In his last two outings this past week, he has done beautifully. On Wednesday, he struck out the side in the last inning!

And now he’s back

I saw the signs in Boston, he was shaky during the 2018 postseason. And it showed big time in Chicago now

Let's see how the rest of 2021 finish may need to add comeback year.

League caught up to him in that his mph no longer stands out and he never adjusted. Never picked up a new pitch or increased command.

This is exactly what I theorized about him without knowing all the stats; namely that his fastball command is not very good and he tries to get hitters to swing at his slider (not curveball) when he gets into trouble i.e. behind in the count. Also, his arm slot is very different now compared to what it was when he was successful and hopefully that's what the Cubs are talking about when they say it's "something mechanical" that he needs to fix. He actually looked good last night when he came in and it's a sign of more good things to come.

he’s good again

Reminds me of James Shields, straight as an arrow fastball thrower who loses some velocity and then gives up a ton of homers.

Would love to see a Braves rebuild analysis.

As a sox fan, watching 2018 post season Kimbrel was basically let's hold our breath and hope he can make it through the inning. He's gotta add something to his repertoire or he's done.

And he’s back to elite this year

The shelf life of an MLB closer is about a season to a season and a half. Most closers will have one spectacular season and then flame out. Some manage to stick around for a few years, but the vast majority are around just long enough to get a closer contract and then it becomes a white-knuckle ride every time they get to the mound. Typically they're two-pitch type pitchers. Usually it's a big fastball and some kind of "out" pitch like a nasty breaking ball or a cutter. If they had a third pitch they'd be starters. Over the course of 162 games they'll average about 68 to 70 relief appearances. During those appearances the professional MLB hitters are observing and watching film looking for patterns etc. Once they learn to recognize the "out" pitch or a pitching pattern they stop swinging at the "out" pitch and then it's just a matter of timing up the fastball, which all MLB hitters will eventually do no matter how fast it is. This speaks to how amazing Mariano Rivera really was. He threw a four seam fastball at around a 93 MPH average (good but not the 95+ type gas the usual closer has) and a cut fastball that averaged around 91 MPH. He threw the cutter for outs and everyone in the ballpark knew it was coming yet no one could barrel it up and he got everyone out for almost twenty years. I told my friends who were Yankee's fans when he retired, "now you're going to learn what the rest of the league feels when the "closer" comes into the game. For 20 years all you had to do was play Enter Sandman and, like clockwork, three outs later all the Yankee's fans went home happy." (Ask the Mets fans about how they feel when their "closer" Edwin Diaz starts for the mount. For one year with the Mariners and the guy is unhittable. Move him to the Mets with a big contract and now he's king of the blown save). With all that as a given, Craig Kimbrel had a very successful career as an MLB closer compared to most.

5:04 chris paddack is my second cousin :)

Iam happy to see now Craig is back to his elite form this year

This video aged well...

What if Rossy saw this video, showed Kimbrel & he cleaned it up. His last couple outings looked good, he finally recorded a save looking like the Kimbrel of old yesterday (8/19/20). The broadcast mentioned he is adding a change up to his repertoire

And he’s back baby

Kimbrel is definitely a HOF pitcher