The circle could be completed for Craig Kimbrel, the longtime former Braves closer who signed a minor-league contract with his original team on Tuesday.
Kimbrel, a nine-time All-Star who’ll be 37 in May and has 440 career saves in 15 seasons, will follow a similar schedule as veteran catcher James McCann, who signed a minor league deal with the Braves on Monday. Since both missed most of spring training, they’ll stay behind in minor league camp for at least a few weeks before joining the Braves’ Triple-A Gwinnett affiliate.
If nothing else, both players could be low-cost depth pieces for the Braves, and if they have anything left one or both could end up helping the big-league team.
Free-agent reliever Craig Kimbrel heading back to where he started. In agreement with Braves on minor-league deal, source tells @TheAthletic.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) March 18, 2025
Kimbrel said he’s been throwing live batting practice while waiting to sign with a team. “Dirty C” had at least 22 saves in each of the past three seasons. He made the NL All-Star team with the Phillies in 2023 and pitched well into August 2024 for the Orioles before falling apart in the final six weeks.
Kimbrel finished 2024 with a 5.33 ERA — more than twice his career 2.59 — and 1.357 WHIP. He still had 72 strikeouts in 52 1/3 innings, but walked 31 and allowed 40 hits. Most of the real damage came in the final stretch of the season.
After posting a 3.21 ERA while holding opponents to a .176 average and .583 OPS in 46 appearances through Aug. 6, Kimbrel was rocked for a 13.94 ERA in his final 11 appearances, when opponents hit .318 with a 1.062 OPS. He had 12 strikeouts, nine walks and three homers allowed in 10 1/3 innings of that skid. The Orioles, who signed him to a $13 million contract plus a club option for 2025, designated him for assignment in mid-September.
Kimbrel, a native of Huntsville, Ala., was a third-round pick by the Braves out of Wallace State (Ala.) Community College. He debuted with Atlanta in 2010 and made four consecutive All-Star appearances in his first four full seasons with the Braves (2011-2014) while also finishing in the top 10 in Cy Young Award voting each of those years. He also won the 2011 Rookie of the Year award over teammate and future MVP Freddie Freeman after posting a 2.10 ERA and racking up 46 saves across 79 games.
He led the NL in saves in each of those seasons and led the majors in saves with 50 in 2013. From 2012 through 2014, Kimbrel was spectacular, posting a 1.27 ERA and 0.815 WHIP in 194 appearances with 139 saves and 309 strikeouts against 60 walks in 191 1/3 innings.
In 2012, he was fifth in Cy Young votes and eighth in NL MVP balloting, and in 2013 he was fourth in the Cy race and 11th in MVP votes.
Kimbrel made three consecutive AL All-Star teams with Boston, with whom he saved six postseason games and induced the final out of the Red Sox’s 2018 World Series championship in the final year of his contract. He was most recently an All-Star with Philadelphia in 2023, when Kimbrel had a 3.26 ERA and 94 strikeouts (28 walks) in 69 innings.
From 2011 to 2018, no one collected more saves than Kimbrel’s 332. Kenley Jansen ranked second with 264 in that period.
(Photo of Kimbrel with the Braves in 2014: Jason Getz / Imagn Images)
