Don’t worry, guys, Craig isn’t worried so we don’t have to be worried either!
“It’s just one of those games,” Kimbrel said. “It was a day game and a quick turnaround. I was still able to get guys out.”
Kimbrel’s fastball rested between 93-95 mph during Saturday afternoon’s game. In the 10th inning of Friday night’s win over the Nationals, his fastball sat between 95-97 mph.
“I feel pretty good that I was able to go out there and throw 93 to 95,” Kimbrel said. “I don’t have to throw harder than that.”
Nothing to see here, folks. Nothing to worry about. Move along!
“I have just spoken with Herr Hitler in Munich,” said Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, “and he has assured me that….”
[Entire nation breathes a sigh of relief.]
They did hit some of those balls pretty hard on Saturday. I keep waiting for the inevitable rough patch.
More appearances for Avilan, less for Kimbrel, please.
It’s a long season.
When asked about Kimbrel’s dip in velocity, Fredi Gonzalez seemed unperturbed, stating that “[the front office] could just put Gattis in there in case Craig misses any time – no biggie”.
“He could just catch himself”, Laird said of Gattis. “I’ve seen him do it in practice. He makes me look irrelevant”.
News break — I’m in Cambridge, MA, not Boston, and am fine. Is anyone else here in Boston? Was anyone at the marathon?
ESPN has the Braves at #1 in their power rankings:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/powerrankings
Wasn’t it a little chilly/windy during the Kimbrel outings in question? That could explain a dip in velocity, no?
Glad to hear you are OK Alex. These are some crazy times we are living in, with all the rhetoric out of north korea, economic troubles around the globe, price of gold plummeting and now this…all the data points feel very ominous. Glad you are safe though. take care all.
@8, By that time, the sun had been out, and it wasn’t too windy. Nats fans were giving Hudson shit for wearing his jacket on the bases.
What an awful day.
@8 No, it was pretty nice out. Slightly chilly where I was in the shade, but on the field should have been quite pleasant.
The explanation given is more than likely all there is to it. It’s at that point where dead arms are going to occur some, and it was a quick turn around. But we’ll know either way his next time out if it was a fluke or not.
Craig Kimbrel: 6 IP, 1 hit, 2 walks, 0 runs, 6 Ks.
Yes, his K rate is way, way, way, way down, I concede that.
He hasn’t appeared as dominant overall, both during the season and over the spring. To me it’s mostly been that his control has not been quite as spot on as it was throughout last season. Missing a bit with his fastball… not getting the breaking ball over for strikes. But in my observation it has been improving. When you’re that good and you’re stuff is that nasty, you can be effective even when a little off.
Not worried.
#6
Sit tight, AAR.
McCann evidently to start catching Weds or Thurs.
“McCann evidently to start catching Weds or Thurs.”
If he goes 0-4, will people be demanding he get benched in favor of Gattis?
I know I will.
No rehab assignment?
@14
Source?
The idea of having a Catching platoon this strong is nice. If there was ever a position to employ a platoon… Also, Kimbrel is having a nice start, I feel like he doesn’t become the absurdly dominant guy we know and love for another month.
something called rotoalert says … “Brian McCann (shoulder) will begin catching in extended spring training games Wednesday or Thursday.”
Does Gattis remind anyone else of Sheffield?
@17 Extended spring training first, then likely a rehab assignment.
Nobody else reminds me of Sheffield.
Bryce Harper’s swing reminds of Sheffield’s a bit, especially the way he finishes with his weight on his front foot. But yeah, other than that, I’m with John.
Only swing that ever reminded me of Sheffield’s was Rickie Weeks. But he himself does not remind me of Sheffield.
Miami is going to be useless all year in helping beat division rivals, it feels. Momentum in the NL East is whoever gets to play the Marlins next.
Thanks for letting us know. Alex.
Go Braves!
Phillies bullpen imploding. For some reason Manuel was saving Adams in a 2-2 game. If they’d won tonight they’d have been back above .500 and arguably as big a threat as the Nats from here on out.
Fun Facts: Since late 2005, Hit Tracker has tracked the distance of every major league home run. Adam Dunn has the longest shot recorded at 504 feet. The 6th longest hr was hit by none other than …. Wilson Betemit (488 ft in 2006). There must have been a lot of wind blowing that day!
Braves hitting homers over 475 ft include Juan Francisco (482 ft, 2011), Justin Upton (478 ft, 2011), and Jason Heyward (476 ft, 2010)
That could be a new poll: which Brave will hit the longest home run this season? I’m going to go with the bear, but smart money is on JUpton or Juan.
@30 Has to be Juan if you are only talking about distance.
cut throat! keep your runners on the bases, and knock everybody else’s off.
I somehow didn’t realize it earlier, but today Francoeur will be back at Turner Field for the first time since August 2010. Where does the time go.
@33
Is he booed, cheered, or is it “eh”
Episode 2 of the Circle Change is available here. We’re still working on getting iTunes to pick it up as a podcast in their system.
[audio src="http://alanhoneycutt.com/podcasts/Circle%20Change%20-%20Ep%202.m4a" /]
@35 Even better than the first podcast, Sam! Thank you for sharing.
@21
In that balls come of his bat like frickin’ lasers, yes.
@34 – Cheered.
Speaking of Jeffy and time passing so quickly, it’s hard to believe that in 2009 our starting outfield on opening day was Garrett Anderson, Francoeur and Success.
@39
How’d we ever win eight? It’s a miracle
Two games at home and then off again? That scheduling is awful. I guess the off day is supposed to make up for it, but I don’t think I would be happy if I was on the team.
Forgive me for not being up on all the inside jokes here (or remembering who else started in the OF in 2009), but who is “Success”? Bonus points if anyone can explain the nickname for me. Thanks. 🙂
I’m pretty sure Success is Jordan Schafer, I actually have no idea of the origins of his nickname
Ah, that explains why I couldn’t remember who started in 2009. I’ve become quite proficient in blotting out ugly memories.
Yes, Jordan Schafer. It’s because of a comment he made during spring training in 2011:
@45 Jordan Schafer is Bryce Harper without the talent.
Tonight’s game is the free game on mlb.tv
@46
Why can’t Bryce Harper be Jordan Schafer without the attitude instead of the way you put it?
Jordan Schafer is better than 99.99% of everyone will ever be at playing baseball, he’s on a major league roster, and he’s made $1.8 million by the age of 26. By any reasonable definition of the word, that’s [bleeping] success.
@48 Because Bryce Harper does have an attitude and no one knows who Jordan Schafer is because he sucks at his job.
@49 Every measure of success except for the measure that matters, which is success on the MLB level.
I’ll root for Jordan Schafer if I have to, but over the years he’s more than occasionally conducted himself in a manner patently deserving of ridicule, and I see no harm in pointing that out.
Stop picking on Schafer. He is leading the team in batting average and OBP and is second on the team in OPS. I’m confident that he can keep this up for several more games as long as he only plays as a pinch runner.
At least we don’t have to worry that he made the roster because of personality/leadership/other marginal intangible quality. Incriminating photos, on the other hand…
@52 Post of the day!
Nice podcast, Sam. thanks for catching me up.
@52 – I know you’re being facetious, but there’s honestly nothing wrong with a 25th man who has 25th man skills. 50% of MLB players will always be below-MLB-median players, even if they’re still within the 99.99th percentile of the broader universe of all pro-and-pro-aspiring players everywhere.
@50, etc – it’s not like he ever signed a $200MM contract and declared he was going to be the next Mickey Mantle. He was just hustling for a job in the big leagues. I think it’s easy to lose sight of how many guys there are riding minor league buses every day for low wages just for a shot at a major league job, and how close Schafer was to being that guy for who knows how long at the time of that interview. Since then, he’s stuck in the big leagues for most of 2+ seasons. Sometimes success at the major league level is just sticking at the level.
“Jordan Schafer is better than 99.99% of everyone will ever be at playing baseball”
This implies that anyone cares that Schafer is better at baseball than a grandma in a wheel chair. How’s he compared to his peers in MLB?
I think his point was that merely by making it to the show for a non-trivial period of time gives someone a certain set of bragging rights, which I would concur with. I might agree that Schafer is far from my first choice of 4th OFs, but it’s undeniable that he possesses a very significant amount of baseball talent.
Just making it to the major leagues means that, when taking your skills as a baseball player into account, you don’t suck.
Having said that, as a baseball fan it is well within my rights to say Jordan Schafer sucks.
Both realities fit comfortably in my zone of fandom.
@59 Puts it very well. But W.C.G.’s point is actually something I think about quite a bit… usually right before or after I say/think something very unkind about some player like Schafer or Melky.
I do, by all means, freely blast away at the likes of them when talking baseball among friends. Still though, I remember my own complete failure to hit even an 80 m.p.h. fastball–and thereby render them due respect.
Speaking of which, we’re going to get to play against Francoeur tonight.
I have no problem with our last hombre off the bench being a horse’s ass. That sort of thing has worked in the NBA for ages. He’s our Nate Robinson.
That said, I wish Schafer would let that aspect of his personality translate to his Twitter feed. It’s kinda boring.
New thread.