Kimbrel breaks first-half rookie saves record
Braves closer Craig Kimbrel surpassed the major league first-half rookie record for saves, and before much longer he could own more-significant marks.
The 23-year-old Alabama native pitched a perfect ninth inning Thursday against Colorado for his 27th save, breaking the rookie first-half mark of 26 set by Boston’s Jonathan Papelbon before the 2006 All-Star break.
“It’s pretty cool to say I have the record,” Kimbrel said. “But I wouldn’t have had it if it weren’t for the team. We have a winning baseball team, and if we didn’t go out there and win as many times as we do, I wouldn’t have a chance to get the saves. It’s just as much [an award] for them as it is for me.
“I thank the team and thank Fredi [Gonzalez] for letting me have the opportunity to do it.”
Kimbrel needs 10 saves to set a new National League single-season rookie record, and 14 for the major league record for rookies. Rangers closer Neftali Feliz, a former Braves prospect, set the major league rookie record with 40 saves in 2010, and Todd Worrell holds the NL rookie record with 36 saves for St. Louis in 1986.
Kimbrel took over sole possession of the majors lead in saves, pending the outcome of San Diego’s late game Thursday (Padres closer Heath Bell had 26 saves). Kimbrel also leads major league relievers in strikeouts with 70, including 21 strikeouts with only one walk in his past 12 innnings.
He has allowed just three hits in 13 scoreless innings over his past 13 appearances and converted all nine save opportunities in his past 10 games.
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67 comments Add your comment
Joseph
July 7th, 2011
7:58 pm
Great stuff DOB. Fredi was right not to take Kimbrel out of the closer role or to implement the dual closer strategy. Fredi got that one right period.
Jurrjens Surgeons
July 7th, 2011
8:07 pm
WHY NOT REPLAY THIS HISTORIC GAME?
Oh right….. Street Ballaz
extremus
July 7th, 2011
8:08 pm
Congratulations to Kimbrel on his accomplishment; he’s come a long way from that often unsteady young pitcher who was struggling with control and had some blown saves early this season. Kudos; hopefully the Braves can lock him and Venters down so they can be assured of a dynamite late-innings duo for many years to come.
Chris G.
July 7th, 2011
8:16 pm
I still can’t believe that the major league saves leader is not on the all-star team!!!!!!!!! It makes no sense whatsoever.
What do I do with this Bat?
July 7th, 2011
8:32 pm
Kimbrel and the rest of the pen have been flat dealing all year. I hope they can rest up after this series with the Phils. We have to finish the 1st half strong – take advantage of the Phillies while we are hitting the ball and scoring runs.
Kimbrel and Hanson deserve the 2 stars on the back of their jerseys. They will get plenty in the future.
Joseph
July 7th, 2011
8:36 pm
@What do I do. You are correct. Those 2 deserve to be on the all-star team. However, I am not too upset about Kimbrel not making the team after what Bochy said on the selection show. He could use the 3 days of rest. Hanson should be there but again I don’t like at all what Bochy said about how he wanted to stretch the pitchers out and use his guys in case the game goes into extra-innings.
CajunStorm
July 7th, 2011
9:13 pm
Whoa….the Bravos are gettin it on like a Friday night on Bourbon St…straight cookin!! Now let’s get AT LEAST 2 outta 3 from Dem Flippin Phillies and party on All Star break. Get the woo hoos and oh yeahs outta the way and get back to business after the break with a favorable schedule.
Yes, the dang Phils are gonna make a run toward the last 1/3 of the season but hell…We Got on e helluva TomaHawkin beatdown run in us too. 95 Wins will WIN the NL East.
So in the immortal words of the ATL rapper Young Jeezy…”Let’s Get It!!!”
Whooo…feels good to be a cheerleader sometime….No Homo.
The Game Has Changed
July 7th, 2011
9:31 pm
He reminds me of a young Steve Avery
Hinske Da Man
July 7th, 2011
9:45 pm
Congrats Kimbrel on the record, now go out and shatter the rest of them. You have electric stuff and you can see the fear in the hitters eyes when you throw that ball. Nothing like having a high 90’s fastball and a wicked slider to go with it. Awesome job kid.
Brave New World
July 7th, 2011
10:21 pm
Way to go Craig! You are an all star in my book.
Henry D.
July 7th, 2011
11:14 pm
Congratulations young man!
Marty "Taco" Perez
July 7th, 2011
11:23 pm
LOVE the Gorilla windup………….the kid is great !!!!
Bill
July 7th, 2011
11:33 pm
No music DOB? crap.
Admiral Ackbar
July 7th, 2011
11:44 pm
Way to go Buzz Capra! I mean, “It’s a Trap!”
Fred
July 8th, 2011
1:15 am
DOD: You are SUCH a cheerleader, especially in your write up of the game here:
http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-braves/surging-braves-sweep-rockies-1004271.html
I love it. Let New York have beat writers who hate the team and find joy in spreading dirt and discord. We here down South like the homeboys who root for the home team. Since half of the Philly fans have relocated HERE it’s nice to get support from the press. Hell it seems like half the fans from EVERY WHERE up North have relocated here.
Remember the “glory days’ of the early 90’s, before the Ted was built and seats were sold out to corporate “partners” in lieu of Braves fans? Fulton County Stadium ROCKED with noise and cheers (for the BRAVES, not the yankee teams). I miss those days.
Fred
July 8th, 2011
1:25 am
Oh wait, I forgot, we DO have a taste of New York negativity. Can anyone say Jeff Schultz?
I can in one word. Asshat.
He sure had a negative write up on things masked as an ‘upbeat” article. What a richard he is. He should get into politics as he can ride a fence better than Lane Frost could ever ride a bull………
Lobosolo
July 8th, 2011
1:50 am
Funny how so many of you armchair crybabies screamed to send Kimbrel down after his couple of bad outings… now the disparagers are jumping on the bandwagon… Yo-yo’s y’all could be called… too late to become a real fan, whiners… run along, now… find another team to be “yours”, so you can use that 20-20 hindsight to legitimize your baseball knowledge and call your new teammates names and such… POSERS!!!
Jonathan Papelbon
July 8th, 2011
1:57 am
He may have beaten my saves record but he’ll never beat me in a dance contest
bravesgrl4life
July 8th, 2011
5:23 am
Craig is flat out AWESOME!!!
FL dawg
July 8th, 2011
6:50 am
Is it just me or does it feel like 1991 to anybody else? Wouldn’t have said that a week ago. Great to see the bats waking up.
Joseph
July 8th, 2011
7:13 am
The chants of “BEAT LA”. Those were some crazy excitement back then.
Let's Go
July 8th, 2011
8:11 am
Mentally this kid seems to be rock solid because he could have easily lost all his confidence when Fredi “rested” him and used Venters for a couple of games. Last year he came up with a lot of hype and had a problem with walks and was sent back down pretty quick but when he returned in Sept he showed the set back didn’t bother him and he was a more complete pitcher. Same this year. The law of averages says he will blow a save every now and then but after seeing how he has handled the first part of this season I don’t think it’s a big deal.
dean
July 8th, 2011
8:12 am
And this morning on the radio during my drive in I hear Golic say this: “Who is this kid? Nobody’s ever heard of him….”
Ha!
tree huggin',peace lovin',pot smokin',porn watchin' lazyass hippie
July 8th, 2011
8:13 am
Congrats kid. Job well started.
Robert08
July 8th, 2011
8:21 am
The 1991 season was fun but I liked 1995 a whole lot better. Go Braves …
henry from TN
July 8th, 2011
8:27 am
i will have to eat some crow about kimbral i am one of those that didn’t think he would make it as a closer…and still don’t think he would have made it if he hadn’t quit panicking when he gave up a hit or walk…since he has apparently done that i think he will make it….
Who me?
July 8th, 2011
8:56 am
@henry – wasn’t panicking my friend, it was immaturity. Gotta remember, pressure comes along with that closer’s role and it takes a steel hard mentality to step back on the mound the day AFTER you’ve blown a save and learn from the day before.
Kid’s got moxie, lets hope it holds the second half and we can get an ML saves record for him. Nice way to end your rookie year right?
DMAN
July 8th, 2011
9:16 am
Man this is fun to watch,wheres all those whiney ass so called fans at!
alex
July 8th, 2011
9:17 am
Fred, I remember,those “sun trust” seats are obnoxious. NY writers may be negative, but those yankee fans are terrific!
Venters and kimbrel-scary!
Chimp Carey
July 8th, 2011
9:23 am
So, I guess we won’t be hearing from the keyboard jockeys on here who were calling for Venters to replace Kimbrel as the closer.
Like I was saying earlier this year, better to have him blow a few saves early in the season and learn from it than have him learn the hard way down the stretch!
Way to go Kimbrel!
bbkorbel
July 8th, 2011
9:54 am
Can I nit-pick here…Craig set a “mark” for rookie closers. He did not set a “record”. Records should be just for a season or career. When he hits the mark for most saves by a rookie in a season, then you can call it a record. Sorry…nit-picking over. Tanks!
Law
July 8th, 2011
10:12 am
Before I ask I just want to say, I wasn’t one calling for Venters when Kimbrel stumbled. But do you think Venters could of reached this mark if the roles had been flipped at the start of the season?
Brock
July 8th, 2011
10:15 am
Dean- that’s because they have their heads up the phillies can. if they would broaden their scope and do a little research they would know who Kimbrel is. ESPN is becoming laughable if not there already.
Chimp Carey
July 8th, 2011
10:21 am
Law-
I think Venters would have about the same number of saves if he were in Kimbrel’s position.
JJ
July 8th, 2011
10:29 am
I just pooped mmyself a little bit
Brad from AL
July 8th, 2011
10:31 am
DOB have you seen the Drew Sharps Detroit Free Press article “Jair Jurrjens wouldn’t be an All-Star with Tigers”? It says that he wouldn’t make it in the AL because he pitches to contact and the NL hitters suck.
Sharps calls him a .500 pitcher at best in the AL
Random
July 8th, 2011
10:33 am
Listen, all you hopeless starry-eyed homers, the quote unquote “major league first-half rookie record for saves” is a totally arbitrary and completely meaningless “record”.
The “Save” has been an official MLB statistic only since 1969. (So much for Fredi Gonzalez’ glib reference to the sanctity and significance of MLB’s historical and hallowed tradition of records and statistics — those records go back at least 92 years (end of the dead ball era = 1919, 50 years before the save became an official statistic).)
Closers as we now know them have been in vogue in the MLB only for the last 25 years or so. (The first closer to record as many as 45 saves in a season was Dan Quisenberry in 1983. That ties him for 33rd for the all time single season saves record, along with 19 others.)
On top of that, it is most likely a very rare and fairly recent event for a team to even decide to go into a season with its primary closer still of rookie status. As Fredi Gonzalez said Tuesday, “usually closers are setup men for somebody” else, prior to becoming closers.
Just how many closers have even begun a season as a rookie? Or rather, just how many rookies have begun a season as a team’s primary closer? Or better yet, how many of the other 29 MLB teams have a rookie closer this year? (Answer: two? Salas/STL & Walden/LAA.)
It’s a meaningless record.
But what is NOT meaningless is Kimbrel’s taking over “sole possession of the majors lead in saves, pending the outcome of San Diego’s late game Thursday (Padres closer Heath Bell had 26 saves). Kimbrel also leads major league relievers in strikeouts with 70, including 21 strikeouts with only one walk in his past 12 innings.
“He has allowed just three hits in 13 scoreless innings over his past 13 appearances and converted all nine save opportunities in his past 10 games.”
Let’s focus on that, not some meaningless, media-generated, over-hyped “record”.
Chimp Carey
July 8th, 2011
10:40 am
Hey Random. Who pissed in your Cherrios this morning?
Skip Caray
July 8th, 2011
10:43 am
There are plenty of Phsycologist that will listen to your problems Random
Brock
July 8th, 2011
10:44 am
bb- well I think it’s safe to say this record will not be broken by the end of the season seeing as it is a “before the all star break” record. So in that case you can be certain he indeed broke the record
Brock
July 8th, 2011
10:47 am
Random- thanks, I overlooked Bell. So Kimbrel probably needs one more to seal it.
alex
July 8th, 2011
11:22 am
@random, good points,meaningless”record” oh, let’s just go ahead and give him a trophy and call him great…..Everybody wins…..Chimp and skip,Sheeeeesh
wjones
July 8th, 2011
11:30 am
“alex
July 8th, 2011
11:22 am
@random, good points,meaningless”record” oh, let’s just go ahead and give him a trophy and call him great…..Everybody wins…..Chimp and skip,Sheeeeesh”
Boy, aren’t you a barrel of laughs. I’m thinking you don’t dry your blankets, either.
Bill
July 8th, 2011
11:32 am
NASA blast off-3 min ago already 80 miles up……greta stuff.
Bill
July 8th, 2011
11:36 am
Kimbrel Atlantis great name Joseph.
alex
July 8th, 2011
11:38 am
bill,my son is there, he’s loving it.
wjones:you are now the chump with skip and chimp…you and the rest of the barrel of monkey’s,SHHEEEESh, moron…
63 year Braves fan
July 8th, 2011
11:47 am
Didn’t Jair pitch a 1 hitter last week against the Baltimore Orioles? I think they are an American League
team? The guy from the Detroit Free Press is a jerk.
reckingball
July 8th, 2011
11:52 am
Random@10:33am……………If you don’t want to focus on “some meaningless over hyped record”, then don’t focus on “some meaningless over hyped record.”
If others want to focus on that, they are perfectly free to focus on that. If they do chose to focus on that, it is their buisness?
These blogs are only a forum for idle chatter, that some people enjoy.
Why do you want to steal their joy?
haha.
wjones
July 8th, 2011
11:54 am
“alex
July 8th, 2011
11:38 am
bill,my son is there, he’s loving it.
wjones:you are now the chump with skip and chimp…you and the rest of the barrel of monkey’s,SHHEEEESh, moron…”
I know you are….but what am I? Childish people deserve childish remarks…plus you could use a little time out until you learn to play better with others.
reckingball
July 8th, 2011
11:57 am
Brad@10:31……Never heard of Drew Sharps before your post.
I don’t really care what he has to say, about anything.
Does anyone else around here care?
Chimp Carey
July 8th, 2011
11:58 am
He Alex, should I take my ball and go home now?
alex
July 8th, 2011
12:06 pm
@reckingball: I thought detroit had closed shop for lack of population and participation-sad really,bad cars +overzealous unions=goodbye motor city.
No chimp, this is all in fun anyways, go play,I’ll bring the beer!!
Bill
July 8th, 2011
12:08 pm
Alex, know he is have fun being part of history..
Reckingball…agree with you on Drew Sharps BS..just tells me he knows nothing about what he speaks.
This is big with Phillies…got to win. Go Braves.
alex
July 8th, 2011
12:20 pm
Bill, my son is ona condo rooftop several miles south in cocoa beach,said the engine sound and feeling was awesome. Now we are at the end of the spacerace(see economist). we will send our astronauts up in RUSSIAN rockets..To paraphrase nial ferguson: the end of empire
Bill
July 8th, 2011
12:25 pm
The end of empire…so right.
Kimbrel breaks first-half rookie saves record | Raw Sports - Atlanta Braves
July 8th, 2011
12:28 pm
[...] Atlanta Braves [...]
Trojan
July 8th, 2011
1:18 pm
ESPN is not a sports station anymore. ESPN is a self promoting network that promotes Tiger, Lebron and Women’s Soccer.
ESPN acts like jock sniffers.
phar71
July 8th, 2011
1:26 pm
No Shane Victorino for the series. Great news for us!
Chimp Carey
July 8th, 2011
2:52 pm
This series should be awesome! I say we take 2 of 3 and go into the break 1/2 game back. Look for Hanson to DOMINATE! Weekend full of good baseball, good food, good drink and good smoke! Hiyo!
Jungle Lady
July 8th, 2011
2:53 pm
Venters Vexes and Kimbrel Perplexes
Chimp Carey
July 8th, 2011
2:56 pm
Listen up for my best analysis of the season this weekend boys and girls!
JASon
July 8th, 2011
3:01 pm
“Rest of week to be wet”
Congratulations aj-c. You win the award for reliability.
Math is not my strong suit
July 8th, 2011
3:21 pm
Chimp-
We can’t be 1/2 game back. 2 out of 3 gets us to 1 1/2 back. 3 out of 3 gets us to 1/2 up.
Who Me?
July 8th, 2011
3:27 pm
check your math again Math…
Random
July 8th, 2011
5:38 pm
DAP (July 8th, 2011 12:08 pm): “kimbrel’s setting the record for rookie saves is not meaningless. its awesome.
” ‘Just how many closers have even begun a season as a rookie? Or rather, just how many rookies have begun a season as a team’s primary closer? Or better yet, how many of the other 29 MLB teams have a rookie closer this year?’
“all these questions make it all the more awesome that kimbrel has 27, the most ever by a rookie before the all star break.
I repeat: “the quote unquote ‘major league first-half rookie record for saves’ is a totally arbitrary and completely meaningless ‘record’.”
Here’s why:
“First-half” — after 81 games (thru 28 Jun at Seattle), Kimbrel had only 23 saves. Not 27. Is that a ML record?
Or perhaps you prefer the descriptor “pre-All Star Game” to “first-half”?
You know as well as I that, from year to year, a different number of games are played before the ASG. And in the same year, no one team will definitely play the same number of games before the ASG as any other random team.
This year, the Braves will have likely played 94 games pre-ASG. The Pirates, Indians and Twins, likely 91. The Yankees, 90. The Orioles, 88.
Last year, most teams had played 88 or 89 pre-ASG games; low were the Tigers with 86; high were the Angels with 91.
Any “record” with such poorly defined, ambiguous and wildly varying parameters is de facto arbitrary and meaningless.
(UPDATE: when Papelbon set the “record” in 2006, the Red Sox had played 88 games before the 11 Jul ASG.)
“Rookie” — it does make sense to me to recognize (full season) records for rookies in batting stats like HRs, hits, AVG/OBP/SLG/OPS, etc or fielding stats. There are significant numbers of rookie position players that crack Opening Day starting line-ups each year (and have been for over 100 years, but probably more so lately).
It makes less sense to me to recognize (full season) records for rookies in pitching stats like Wins, Ks, ERA, WHIP, etc. Each year usually sees a good handful of rookies in teams’ Opening Day rotations (for the last 100+ years).
But it makes no sense to me to recognize (full season) records for rookies in pitching stats like Saves. The pool of candidates (rookies who open the season as their team’s primary Closer) is just too small for any record among them to have any meaning.
(Now that may change in the coming years — perhaps 20 years from now it will be a meaningful record. Not now; not yet.)
“Save” — as a counting stat per se, Saves are less meaningful than Save Percentages. The number of Saves recorded is directly based on the number of Save Opportunities, which are wildly variant from closer to closer, being dependant on a number of factors such as team wins and the manifold conditions for a Save as contained in its definition (relative scores, number of innings pitched, “quality” of pitching, etc).
Over a full season, and comparing thousands of seasons with each other, these variances can be overlooked — they tend to even out. But to delimit the scope of a record to a half-season (more or less) and to rookie closers, the arbitrary variances are too big ignore. (Some of the same deficiencies common to other small sample sizes.)
For a specific example, let’s look at this year. There are to my knowledge only three rookies who started the year as their team’s primary closer — Kimbrel; Salas of STL; and Walden of LAA. (UPDATE: Salas became STL’s closer toward the end of May after their initial primary closer, Ryan Franklin, proved ineffective.)
Atlanta will likely have played 94 pre-ASG games; STL and LAA, 92. Even playing field?
Atlanta currently has 53 Wins; STL and LAA 47. Even playing field?
Kimbrel has had to date 32 Save Opportunities; Salas, 17; Walden, 25. Even playing field?
(UPDATE: when Papelbon set the “record” in 2006, the Red Sox had played 88 games and had 53 Wins; and Papelbon had had 29 Save Opportunities before the 11 Jul ASG.)
And “Save” — Saves have been an official MLB stat only since 1969. Only in the mid-80s did closers start assuming the roles with which we are currently familiar; only since the mid-80s did managers begins using closers the way we are currently used to.
And probably never in the past was it customary to open a season with a rookie as a team’s primary closer. So there is really not much competition for the meaningless and arbitrary “major league first-half (or pre-ASG) rookie record for saves”, and the contexts in which rookie saves are earned are still as yet too wildly variant to allow the fair comparison which might render a “record” valid.
“and then you say having the most saves in the league is what is important?”
That’s not what I said — what I said was this:
“But what is NOT meaningless is Kimbrel’s taking over ’sole possession of the majors lead in saves, pending the outcome of San Diego’s late game Thursday (Padres closer Heath Bell had 26 saves). Kimbrel also leads major league relievers in strikeouts with 70, including 21 strikeouts with only one walk in his past 12 innings.
“ ‘He has allowed just three hits in 13 scoreless innings over his past 13 appearances and converted all nine save opportunities in his past 10 games.’ (DOB)
“Let’s focus on that, not some meaningless, media-generated, over-hyped ‘record’ ”.
And what I meant was this:
It’s great that a Brave is currently leading MLB in Saves (even if he also leads MLB in Save Opportunities by an even wider margin). It’s wonderfully fantastic that a Braves closer is leading MLB in the other stats cited. And it IS totally awesome that he is doing it as a rookie.
But the very concept of a “major league first-half (or pre-ASG) rookie record for saves” is, today at least, simply ludicrous.
“which is it random? are saves important or arent they?”
That’s a whole nother discussion entirely, one on which I think I’ll pass.
Thanks!
Random
July 8th, 2011
5:44 pm
reckingball (July 8th, 2011 11:52 am): “Random@10:33am……………If you don’t want to focus on “some meaningless over hyped record”, then don’t focus on “some meaningless over hyped record.”
If others want to focus on that, they are perfectly free to focus on that. If they do chose to focus on that, it is their buisness?
These blogs are only a forum for idle chatter, that some people enjoy.”
Agreed. I challenge you to find some chatter more idle than what I just posted.
“Why do you want to steal their joy?
haha”
Math...
July 8th, 2011
7:28 pm
Who Me?
July 8th, 2011
3:27 pm
“check your math again Math…”
Don’t need to. It;s correct. Get your paper and pencil out and try it.