It was the briefest of returns for franchise icon Craig Kimbrel, whose 2025 pit stop in Atlanta left many people scratching their heads.
How acquired
The Atlanta Braves signed Kimbrel to a minor league contract in the midst of Spring Training, as he lingered on the market after being released by the Baltimore Orioles prior to the end of the 2024 regular season. He was twice drafted by Atlanta as an amateur, first as 33rd round pick in 2007, and then as a third round pick in 2008. After debuting in 2010,
he pitched with Atlanta until being traded by the organization to the San Diego Padres prior to the start of the 2015 season in a widely-panned salary dump move.
What were the expectations?
Kimbrel, whose 440 career saves are fifth all-time and second among active players, hasn’t been as dominant this decade as he was last decade. He hasn’t exceeded 24 saves in a single season since 2018 and spent parts of several campaigns not in a closer’s role.
After his struggled in the latter half of 2024 with Baltimore — during which his results were so bad he lost his closer’s job and then was released — the Braves taking a flier on Kimbrel was more about bullpen depth than it was expecting to fill a late-inning role on the big league squad.
Still, despite heading into his age-37 season, Kimbrel could have bounced back. He had 1.1 fWAR in Philadelphia in 2023, and 0.9 fWAR with the Dodgers the year before that. While his 103 FIP- from 2024 was his second-highest in his long career, and his 98 xFIP- his third-highest, he still had a decent chance probabilistically of being an above-average reliever given his overall track record and the fact that he was still able to make it work and have a great relief season at 35, just two years removed from 2025.
2025 results
Kimbrel saw most of his action in that Atlanta organization pitching in the minors, mainly at Triple-A, but also appearing in three games at Double-A. He did okay in the minors, with a 2.81 FIP that was in line with what you’d expect from a legendary reliever on the tail end of his career, but a 4.33 xFIP that was concerning. He struck out about a third of the batters he faced, but didn’t get a callup, even as the Braves churned through their relief options.
He struck out 23 batters in 18 innings, allowing only four earned runs, but wasn’t called-up to the big league team despite lots of churn in the bullpen. That was curious, especially as the calendar turned to late May.
On June 6, he finally got the call, joining the Braves in San Francisco. He was immediately inserted into a reasonably high-leverage situation (tie game in the bottom of the seventh), and had a bizarre inning: leadoff single, caught stealing, walk, pickoff, strikeout.
He was designated for assignment the next day, giving him a grand total of two days with the big league Braves in his reunion stint.
Kimbrel rejected his assignment to Gwinnett after clearing waivers and signed with the Texas Rangers on a minor league deal. He pitched at Triple-A until the Houston Astros gave him a major league opportunity, thus earning his release from the Rangers.
With the Astros, he pitched in 13 games, striking out 16 in 11 innings, with a pretty generic 60/102/88 line (ERA-/FIP-/xFIP-). For the season as a whole, he had 0.0 fWAR in 12 innings with a 52/102/89 line. Teams have and did do worse relief-wise this season.
What went right?
Despite his fastball velocity plummeting precipitously since 2021 (from the 90th percentile to below the 35th), Kimbrel was still pretty effective in limited exposure. An 89 xFIP- was better than all but two Braves relievers with 12-plus innings managed on the season.
That, and, even though his sole Braves outing was silly, he didn’t actually get torched in it.
He also started using his sweeper more heavily this season, and it was devastating, with a .026 xwOBA-against and a whiff rate north of 38 percent.
What went wrong?
Kimbrel wasn’t able to hold a full-time, big league job until late August, when he was with his third organization of the season. Despite being only 37, Kimbrel’s days a a full-time closer and really, a full-time, full-season reliever are probably over, unless an organization believes in his ability to be an effective “junk baller” reliever.
Despite his decent results with the Astros, one of the two home runs he allowed came, ironically, against the Braves in Atlanta when he gave up a bomb to reserve catcher Sandy Leon, Leon’s first since 2021.
Also, his short stint with the Braves was confusing, and the highest-WPA play of his inning with the team involved a guy getting thrown out trying to steal rather than anything he did directly.
2026 outlook
Kimbrel is a free agent again and may be looking at a minor league contract with a Spring Training invite, or at best, a modest major league deal. As seen by his 2025 season, when he spent most of the year pitching a Triple-A, he may be willing to keep pitching at that level with an organization that looks to be a contender.
As for a return to Atlanta? That seems unlikely. While his role with the Braves always seemed tenuous, the way he was recalled and then waived after a cross-country flight and a scoreless appearance was a head scratcher at the time and still seems odd five months later.
