Entering Tuesday night, Craig Kimbrel at age 24, was one save away from triple digits for his career. His next save will be 100 and would make him the second-youngest to get to reach 100 saves behind only Francisco Rodriguez, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“K-Rod” was 24 years and 246 days when he got his 100th save on Sept. 10, 2006 with the Angels. As of Tuesday, Kimbrel was 24 years and 344 days. The next youngest to reach 100 saves was Chad Cordero, who was 25 years and 86 days when he got his 100th save with Washington, which gave Kimbrel more than three months of leeway.
“It’s definitely pretty cool, but I’m not really putting any emphasis on it,” Kimbrel said. “I just look at it as going out there and doing what I’m supposed to do.”
Kimbrel also has a chance to become the fourth quickest closer to reach 100 saves, behind Eric Gagne, who got there in only 104 chances, John Smoltz, who did it in 107, and Joakim Soria who reached 100 in 112 chances. If Kimbrel converts his next save, it will be in his 113th chance, which would tie him with Kazuhiro Sasaki (2002), John Axford (2012) and Joe Nathan (2006) for fourth-fastest.
Braves reliever Eric O’Flaherty was curious how Kimbrel compared to Gagne, the NL Cy Young award winner and fastest ever to 100. And he had a chance to ask former Braves catcher David Ross, who caught Gagne during his record streak of 84 consecutive saves for the Dodgers.
“I remember asking Rossy in 2011, is he as good as Gagne?” said O’Flaherty, referring to Kimbrel’s first full season as the Braves closer. “And Rossy was like ‘no chance.’ At the end of that year, he was like ‘Yeah, he’s as good. He’s every bit on that level, maybe better.’”
O’Flaherty said he makes that case to all the Braves newcomers, that despite all they’ve heard about Kimbrel to wait until they seem him day in and day out.
“He’s got some of the most ridiculous stuff you’ve ever seen,” O’Flaherty said. “The thing about him is some guys have deception, some guys have velocity, some guys have one really good pitch. He throws 100 mph and he’s deceptive and he’s uphill and he’s got a great breaking ball. He’s a nightmare for hitters.”
Kimbrel isn’t as concerned about being among the fastest to 100 as he is making it well beyond. Injuries ended Gagne’s career after only 187 saves at age 32.
“I’m trying to play longer than that and stay successful longer than that,” Kimbrel said. “All I can do is go outing by outing and season by season.”
As usual, Kimbrel credits his teammates with getting him to the brink of 100.
“It’s a number that I’ve had an opportunity to get this early because we’ve played a lot of close ball games and the last two years we’ve had winning teams,” Kimbrel said. “I’ve been fortunate for that.”
