Kimbrel drawing consideration for bullpen spot

Jupiter, Fla. — After praising young relievers Craig Kimbrel and Jonny Venters before the game Wednesday, Braves manager Bobby Cox had kudos afterward for the performances of left-hander Mike Dunn and Jesse Chavez.

The Braves have two spots available in the bullpen, and Dunn and Chavez are among the few with major league experience competing for those spots.

Chavez pitched a perfect eighth inning against the Marlins on Wednesday, which was encouraging given his struggles this spring. He began the day with an 11.57 ERA and .429 opponents’ average, having allowed nine hits and four walks in 4-1/3 innings.

The slender right-hander doesn’t have any strikeouts, but against Florida he did a better job keeping the ball lower in the strike zone. It was presumed that Chavez had a bullpen job to lose entering spring training, and until Wednesday he’d done plenty to lose it.

The Braves got him from Tampa Bay in a December trade for Rafael Soriano.

Dunn pitched a perfect ninth inning with one strikeout for the save, and didn’t walk anybody for the first time in six spring appearances.

The hard-throwing lefty came from the New York Yankees in the three-player package for Javier Vazquez in December. Dunn is a converted outfielder, and the Braves knew when they got him that he had good stuff but was still erratic.

Dunn has a 1.42 ERA and only four hits allowed in 6-1/3 inning, but before Wednesday he had more than twice as many walks (seven) as strikeouts.

In the dugout before Wednesday’s game, Cox indicated that Kimbrel, 21, has done enough this spring to put himself into consideration for a bullpen job despite his lack of experience above Class A. Projected as a future closer, the only question about Kimbrel entering camp was how long it would take for him to improve his fastball command.

While it’s still a work-in-progress, Kimbrel has issued just three walks and allowed two hits in four scoreless innings this spring. He has six strikeouts and a .143 opponents’ average, and the Braves might decide that his inexperience isn’t enough to keep him back.

Meanwhile, Venters has used what Cox called a “super sinker” to limit opponents to five hits, one run and one walk with three strikeouts in 5-1/3 innings this spring.

Cox likes the lefty a lot, but noted that Venters, who’ll turn 24 in three days, has been used almost exclusively as a starter in recent seasons.

He made 29 starts in the high minors last season, going 4-4 with a 2.76 ERA at Double-A Mississippi and 4-7 with a 5.62 ERA in 17 starts at Triple-A Gwinnett.

Venters had an alarming 77 walks in 156-2/3 innings in 2009, but has shown much better command of the strike zone this spring.