Kimbrel's Mets Debut: New Pitch, Encouraging Velocity

0:00It's March 1st, here's your New York Met's news in two minutes. Craig Kimberl, the 37-year-old closer with 16 Major League seasons, nine off-star appearances, and 440 career saves, made his spring training debut for the New York Met's on Saturday. He signed a minor league deal with the team back on January 29th, and is pushing for 17th big league year. In his first outing at Clover Park against the Nationals, Kimberl worked one inning on 25 pitches. He allowed one run on a single hit along with two walks. Manager Carlos Mendoza came away, encouraged by the performance. He noted a nice bump in fastball velocity to 92 or 93 miles per hour, compared to 88 to 90 in earlier live batting. Practice sessions. The breaking ball showed good shape too. Kimberl himself felt sharper facing live hitters for the first time this spring. He admitted some frustration over the two-hour walks, but saw it as part of building up. Kimberl mixed in a new cutter pitch during the inning, something he's developing to keep

1:03hitters off his fastball, and create better chances with. Off-speed stuff. How much he uses it will depend on his command. This story is made possible by our sponsor, your pillow, your podcast, your moment, made for listening in bed, S-O-L-I, solelypillow.com.