Atlanta Braves' Prospect Profile: Craig Kimbrel

Craig Kimbrel is a 21-year-old right-handed closer currently assigned to the Atlanta Braves' AA affiliate in Mississippi.

The 5'11" Huntsville, Alabama native was drafted in the third round of the 2008 MLB Draft by the Braves (the second time he had been drafted by Atlanta, the first time coming in the 33rd round of the '07 Draft).

Kimbrel has a repertoire that is highlighted by a mid-to upper-nineties fastball and power slider.

With these two pitches, the No. 10 Braves prospect dominated his opponents in Rookie-Ball, A, and A- Advanced over the course of his first professional season in 2008.

With a 0.51 ERA and 0.88 WHIP in 35.1 innings, Kimbrel was impressive.

What was even more impressive was the 56 strikeouts in those 35.1 innings.

Even though he did walk 15, the utter dominance overshadows that.

Although this season hasn't been as amazing, Kimbrel has still given hope that he still may be the Braves' long-term solution to late-inning duties in Atlanta.

In 49.1 innings, Kimbrel has posted a 87:35 K:BB ratio while putting up a 3.28 ERA and 1.30 WHIP and allowing only two (TWO) home runs.

Comparing Kimbrel to an active major league player is hard.

A lot of closers started out as starters (Rafael Soriano, Francisco Rodriguez, and Mariano Rivera), so maximum effort wasn't exerted on every pitch (Kimbrel was drafted and has been treated like a reliever).

Based purely on Minor League stats, he looks like a Trevor Hoffman-type player since he doesn't let himself get into trouble with too many baserunners; but based on stuff, the power slider and fastball make him look like Brad Lidge.

I'm not saying that he'll save 500+ games or go 48-for-48 in a season, but I think that Braves fans can rest easy in either the eighth or ninth when Craig Kimbrel makes it to the Bigs sometime in the next year or two.

He has all of the poise and dominance you could want from a Major League closer and should be successful in that role as long as he can improve his control a little.

Next Up: Randall Delgado.

(Side Notes: Stats are from Baseball-Reference on Saturday, August 8 and I know the picture in this article is of Kris Medlen)