Longtime closer Craig Kimbrel is prepared to be flexible with the Phillies

Despite being known for pitching the ninth inning, Kimbrel knew he was joining a team that closes by committee. But that doesn’t mean the transition will be easy.

Phillies pitcher Craig Kimbrel throws during spring training on Saturday in Clearwater, Fla.Read moreJose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

by Alex Coffey

Published Feb. 18, 2023, 4:06 p.m. ET

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Seranthony Domínguez and José Alvarado walked side by side toward Schmidt Field on Saturday morning to start their daily stretches. Craig Kimbrel stopped them before they could walk onto the grass. The recently acquired reliever pointed toward Domínguez’s glove with a big smile.

“Where did you get that red glove?” he said. “Why don’t I have one of those?”

Domínguez had no answers for him. He laughed and gave Kimbrel a playful push. The right-handed reliever, who signed a one-year, $10 million deal with the Phillies in January, has spent the last 13 years of his life doing one thing very well: pitching the ninth inning. Over that span, he closed 99 of his 126 minor-league games and more than 80% of his 709 major-league games. But this spring, for the first time in his career, he will be asked to do something different. He will be asked to be flexible.

Manager Rob Thomson said that, so far, Kimbrel has been open to the change. He’s been in close contact with the Phillies’ pitching brain trust, and receptive to their feedback, but he’s also been getting to know the pitchers who might take the ninth when he’s not closing a game — like Domínguez and Alvarado, for example.

Kimbrel was expecting all of this. When he signed with the Phillies, he knew he was joining a team that closes by committee. The idea of working with pitching coach Caleb Cotham and director of pitching Brian Kaplan outweighed any concerns he had about having the title of “closer” affixed to his name. But that doesn’t mean the transition will be easy.

Kimbrel really has only two months of big-league non-closer experience to draw upon. When he was traded to the White Sox at the trade deadline in 2021, he was used as a setup man. Albeit a small sample size, the gap between his ninth-inning numbers and his eighth-inning numbers was revealing. In 18⅓ eighth-inning frames , Kimbrel had a 4.42 ERA with 30 strikeouts. In 36⅓ innings in the ninth that season, he had a 0.99 ERA with 61 strikeouts.

Kimbrel said that there are lessons he learned in those two months with the White Sox that he’ll use with the Phillies this season.

“I’m constantly trying to learn,” he said. “As soon as I’m not trying to learn, it’s time to go home. It was just understanding that guys’ approaches can be a little different sometimes at different points in the game and using it to your advantage. Sometimes guys might not be as aggressive as they usually are, especially if they think they might have a chance at another at-bat. Small things like that. I wouldn’t say it’s anything huge, but there definitely are small differences.”

Extra bases

Thomson said that there is no update on the Gregory Soto visa situation yet. Soto is still in the Dominican Republic and has been working out at the Phillies’ facility down there. Thomson said that Soto threw a side session on Friday, and is still on plan as of now. The team still doesn’t know when he’s going to arrive to Clearwater.