Talking Chop

From a Baseball America (sub. req.) farm report on the Braves, and prospect Craig Kimbrel:

"Craig has been much more consistent with his mechanics this spring, which has allowed him to have much better control and command of all his pitches," farm director Kurt Kemp said. "He's impressed our coaches with the way he's willing to consider new ideas and try different things."

It can't be said enough how important it is for young players to listen to their coaches and try to make the adjustments that are recommended. This can be a hard thing for a young player to do, especially if that player has had success with the way they've been doing it.

We saw this with Cole Rohrbough, who I interviewed earlier this spring. He was very successful early in his pro career, and the team wanted him to change his mechanics to put less stress on the arm and create a more repeatable delivery, but it wasn't until he struggled the last two years that he finally realized he needed to change his delivery, which he did this off-season.

It adds to the good impression I already have of Kimbrel that he knows he needs to be more consistent and he's taking the advice of the coaches to improve his mechanics -- even while having success on the mound this spring.