RADIO
Craig Kimbrel 2019 Outlook: Still A Top Closer
6 years agoThroughout his career, Craig Kimbrel has thrown an average fastball of 97.1 mph. In 2018, a year in which Kimbrel turned 30 in May, his average fastball traveled at…97.1 mph. Kimbrel could not duplicate what was in many ways a career year in 2017 (he set a career-best with 112 more strikeouts than walks, 126-14). Still, he remained a top-five closer in ’18, especially because his 42 saves were the most he’d had since 2014. Kimbrel will presumably wish to remain with a contender in 2019, and with little sign of decline as he entered the fourth decade of his life last year, remains as safe a bet as any pitcher to deliver in four categories. So far, with an ADP of 69, he is being drafted as the third closer, after Diaz (48) and Treinen (64) but ahead of Jansen (77). That seems about right.
