How Cubs' Craig Kimbrel's Bounce Back Influenced Pitching Staff

Kimbrel’s bounce back goes beyond on-field impact originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

For a week in August last season, Cubs closer Craig Kimbrel vanished from the public eye. But the way he and several of his coaches and teammates tell it, Kimbrel was anything but distant behind the scenes.

“I’m a pretty open book,” Kimbrel said this spring. “And I'm going to tell people what I think and how I think and how I feel about things, especially the guys in the bullpen and the guys I spend each and every day with.”

Now back in the role of closer, Kimbrel anchors a bullpen that’s carried more weight than usual this season, with Cubs starting pitchers averaging just 4.7 innings per start. Kimbrel has met the challenge. In 13 games, he has allowed just one earned run, on Tuesday ending a personal scoreless streak that extended back to Aug. 29 of last year.

The story of Kimbrel’s bounce back from the beginning of last season, however, isn’t just about a likely Hall of Famer rediscovering what made him so successful in the first place. It’s also about the impact he made on the Cubs pitching staff as he worked through mechanical issues.

“His ability to take a step back I think is what resonates and what stood out the most to everybody,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said. “It's really hard to do that. Most guys just want to push and push and push and push. And you're fighting yourself in the end because you're not really recognizing what's going on and what's wrong, you're just trying to push through.”

Kimbrel forfeited the closer role in early August, and he didn’t pitch in a game for a week. Instead, he worked with the Cubs coaching staff to dissect his mechanics and fine-tune his throwing motion piece by piece.

“When you play baseball, you become a realist,” Cubs right-hander Alec Mills said. “You definitely know who you are, and you know where you are in the situation, and I think for him to be open about it was pretty cool. We all know things that maybe we're not the best at, or things that we're not doing great right now, but a lot of times it becomes internalized.”

According to Mills, Kimbrel took a different approach. He talked through his adjustments and path forward with teammates.

“Hopefully I showed some guys that it doesn't matter what you've done or what situation you're in, anything can happen,” Kimbrel said. “Everyone can go through hiccups. But with hard work and paying attention and the relationships around you, you can get through it.”  

By this spring, Kimbrel could laugh about his early 2020 struggles.

“When you’re trying to throw a four-seam, it’s not good to throw a (fastball that moves like a) two-seam,” Kimbrel said, chuckling. “It’s all about angles.”

This year, Kimbrel’s four-seam has looked like a four-seam, late life and all. He’s throwing his curveball for a strike.

Take the first strikeout in his one-two-three inning Wednesday against the Dodgers for example. Kimbrel threw four consecutive curveballs to Dodgers outfielder Matt Beaty, two for called strikes and one falling out of the zone as Beaty fouled it off.

Kimbrel came back at him with a four-seam fastball that perched atop the strike zone. Beaty fought off that pitch too. Then, Kimbrel finished it with a curve, painting the outside corner. Beaty whiffed.

“When you see him in the zone a lot, the breaking ball’s consistent, it's tough,” Hottovy said. “I have all the faith in the world he’ll be able to sustain that.”

Download
Download MyTeams Today!
Copyright RSN
Contact Us