Craig Kimbrel is Already Giving up a Ton of Home Runs and it's Really Bad

The closer who once asked for $100 million and whose agent proclaimed he was the best closer of all time looks nowhere near that during his short stint as a Cub.

To make matters worse, Craig Kimbrel has fallen victim to home run after home run in this season's age of juiced baseballs.

In just 13.1 innings, he has allowed five home runs, which is already just two less than he allowed in 62.1 innings in 2018.

The Cubs signed him to stabilize their weak bullpen, but he has done more harm than good. His ERA is 6.08 ERA through 15 outings with the Cubs. Kimbrel's pitching style throughout his career has been to challenge the batter and make him beat his fastball.

The one problem with that approach now is his average fastball velocity is the lowest it has been since his rookie season at 96.1. This has forced him to throw his curveball 36 percent of the time, which is the highest of his career.

Whether the long layoff or recent injury had anything to do with Kimbrel's struggles is certainly plausible. He has not been the same dominant closer he was throughout the 2010's. Yup, 96 MPH heaters are not as intimidating, especially when hitters are sitting on fastballs and hitting home runs at unprecedented rates.

Kimbrel has had control struggles as well, allowing eight walks in his small amount of innings this season. The most alarming stat is one third of his fly balls become home runs. This will not cut it for the Cubs, who have a pack of teams hunting them down for the second Wild Card spot.