Craig Kimbrel made his organizational debut for the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday, pitching for Triple-A Iowa. It went well.
Kimbrel needed only eight pitches to get through one inning of work in his first tune-up appearance. He recorded one fly out, one ground out, and one strike out in a 1-2-3 inning.
We probably won’t see Kimbrel in the majors until right around the All-Star break. This is definitely what the people with the Cubs want to see.
Kimbrel hasn’t pitched in the majors since the World Series in October. Since he didn’t sign with the Cubs (or any team) until June, he had no spring training appearances. So, it would have been understandable for Kimbrel to have some rust. But in this outing, he looked pretty sharp.