Through the first approximately week-and-a-half of the 2023 season, the similarities between Craig Kimbrel and Corey Knebel went far beyond the two pitchers’ initials.
Let’s be honest — Kimbrel looked, after allowing five runs in 3 1/3 innings in his first four appearances as a Phillie — like a miss on the part of president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. His fastball was in the low-to-mid-90s. His offspeed wasn’t generating chases. The eye test and the results both portrayed a Kimbrel far closer to the version we’ve seen since he hit 30 years of age than the version we saw in Atlanta and Boston that might ultimately land him in the Hall of Fame one day.
He looked like another Knebel: a mostly ineffective, past-his-prime reliever whose one-year, $10 million investment would turn out not to move the needle much for a team with World Series aspirations.
But Kimbrel has turned things around of late. Twelve of his 15 appearances since then have been scoreless. Two of the other three came in back-to-back rough appearances in Los Angeles, and the other came on Sunday, in which Christopher Morel homered against the Phillies once again but Kimbrel got the job done for the save anyway.
Now, he’s knocking on the doorstep of an exclusive club: 400 saves.
There was once a fun race between Kimbrel and Kenley Jansen to reach that club, as the two veteran righties were tied not long ago at 397. Jansen has already notched save No. 400, but no matter — Kimbrel can join Jansen any game now by becoming the eighth member of the 400 club.
It would be great for the Phillies if it came against the Diamondbacks — if only because that would necessarily mean a win — but to see it happen in Atlanta against the Braves, the division rival with whom Kimbrel began his career and with whom he earned 20 saves against the Phillies, would be special.
If it doesn’t happen against the Snakes Monday through Wednesday, the Phillies will have four chances to get Kimbrel that opportunity when they head to Georgia for a four-game set beginning on Thursday.
Must-Read (Or Watch) Phillies Content
- Shameless plug, but — because he made the story relevant again with his outing against the Cubs on Sunday, a look into Taijuan Walker’s new game plan that (generally) has worked well for him the past few starts.
- Walker bounced back from a rough outing in San Francisco with a minor mechanical tweak that helped him get back on track against Chicago, as Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer explored.
- More great work from The Inquirer, as Alex Coffey profiled Jeff Hoffman, whose nasty stuff has helped him to a 0.00 ERA and 11 strikeouts in six innings with the Phillies this year.
- Bryson Stott honoring the wishes of Phillies fans by hitting clutch home runs (see Caden Marge prayer, 2022) is apparently a thing now.
- Kody Clemens had to fill in for Stott on cup-dousing duties while Stott was busy.
- Hey, do you know of a better option?
Former Phillie Watch
- Mickey Moniak hit a go-ahead RBI double for the Angels on Sunday. He’s batting .417 with a 1.273 OPS. (Noah Syndergaard did help the Phillies win games in October.)
- Connor Seabold struggled again for Colorado, allowing five runs in 3 2/3 innings. His ERA is an unsightly 5.97.
- David Robertson earned a blown save and a win against the Guardians in Game 1 of Sunday’s doubleheader. He immediately allowed a go-ahead two-run homer to José Ramírez upon entering in the eighth but stayed in to finish the game after the Mets reclaimed the lead in the bottom half of the frame.
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