There were some people asking why the Braves didn't promote Craig Kimbrel to Gwinnett when the organization was promoting a bunch of players yesterday. As if the Braves heard you, they have seen fit to promote the talented reliever from double-A Mississippi to triple-A Gwinnett.
This will be Kimbrel's fourth minor league level this season. After starting the year and struggling at Myrtle Beach (A+), the Braves sent him back down to Rome (A-) where he regained his form. They then sent him back to the Beach, and shortly after to double-A. In Mississippi, Kimbrel allowed only one run in 12 games, while striking out 17 in 11.2 innings. On the season, the right-hander has struck out a sweet 100 batters in only 58 innings.
The Braves also promoted RHP Ryne Reynoso to Gwinnett. He had spent the entire season at double-A, compiling a 3.47 ERA and a .236 average against.
0 recs | 23 comments
Gotta be careful here…I don’t want to see Devine 2.0
justincredubil02 - September 2, 2009
Devine was promoted the year he was drafted… its clearly different
Swo12bv - September 2, 2009
He was also a three year college player...
And his quick ascent through the minors came at…age 21.
MichaelProcton - September 3, 2009
Holy crap
I should go out to Gwinnett again, just so I can say that I’ve seen Kimbrel at all four levels of the Minors in one season.
royhobbs - September 2, 2009
Just looked at his stats
It’s incredible that it’s almost ok that he’s walking 6.4/9 because his ridiculous K rate gives him a nice 2.4 K/B.
They really need to come down, though, the walks.
VivaLosBravos - September 2, 2009
the walks
I think that rate is a bit skewed because of his horrible walk numbers at the beginning of the season. He definitely has room to improve on the walks though.
blindsided789 - September 2, 2009
not really
his walk rate has been extremely high in every stop except Rome (and Gwinnett, so far) including both stays at the Beach.
VivaLosBravos - September 2, 2009
It’s bad at Gwinnett now too, 2 in 1 inning.
cbwilk - September 3, 2009
I wonder
If the Braves are looking to use him out of the MLB bullpen at some point in 2010.
PWHjort - September 2, 2009 via mobile
Off Subject but......
Julio Teheran was awesome today!
7IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 7K
Jay212033 - September 2, 2009
Incredible
That Rome still lost.
That’s at least 27 scoreless inning in a row by the offense.
parish - September 2, 2009
This seems like a big mistake. Kimbrel needs to demonstrate far better command before moving up.
Obviously, ATL’s professional talent evaluators know best, and CK must have shown them something in his limited time in MI to warrant a promotion, but he just doesn’t seem ready to face AAA hitting.
Yakker - September 2, 2009
its like a test
to see how he performs under the pressures of closing out games at a higher level in a play-off push. im pretty sure they keep him in AAA for a while next year to work out those walks
drumzalicious - September 3, 2009
I would keep Kimbrel in AA until he resolves his command issues.
Yakker - September 3, 2009
Yes, the command is a concern...
But when you’re allowing less than 3 H/9, you’re doing something right.
MichaelProcton - September 3, 2009
Yeah, walking everybody
Yakker - September 4, 2009
My college buddy Dan Hudson topped Kimbrel in this one though. He started with Kannapolis (A-), moved up to Winston-Salem (A+), then Birmingham (AA), Charlotte (AAA), and last night got called up to the majors with the White Sox.
But, back to the Braves, can’t wait to see all these guys with Gwinnett tonight in Norfolk!
cbwilk - September 2, 2009
Devine 2.0, Francoeur 2.0
I am not being negative, but just like wars, every generation needs to have 2 or more talents overhyped by the Front Office, or the media (this includes us) so that they can be destroyed by the pressure and shipped off to some other team where they will flourish and hopefully won’t come back to bite us.
KomaGawa - September 2, 2009
i disagree
Devine was promoted almost two months after being signed. Thats insane.
they have been a bit more patient with kimbrel tho. Im pretty sure we will see him in Spring Training and if he is shutting them down they will prob do what they did with hanson and promote him in late may
drumzalicious - September 3, 2009
I hope so. I am definitely more wary of rushing guys up after the past 2 seasons.
justincredubil02 - September 3, 2009
11 AA IPs in which Kimbrel showed poor command seems insufficient to warrant a call-up.
It seems the Braves are actually moving Kimbrel even faster than Hanson, who had almost 100 terrific AA IPs under his belt (and an awesome AFL) before even sniffing AAA.
Yakker - September 3, 2009
He was only allowing 2.8 H/9!
MichaelProcton - September 3, 2009
3 Hs In 11 IPs
is hardly a predictive sample size.
Yakker - September 4, 2009
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