Craig Kimbrel isn’t concerned about leading MLB in pitch-timer violations: ‘I’d rather give up a ball than throw a pitch in a hurry’

Craig Kimbrel is one of the slowest workers in baseball, especially with the bases empty. The pitch-clock era has not been friendly to him. He has the most pitch-timer violations in the sport (13), which seems hard to do as a reliever, but Kimbrel isn’t too worried about it.

When presented with the choice of taking the time to execute a pitch and being issued a violation, he almost always picks the extra time.

“I’d rather give up a ball than throw a pitch in a hurry and give up a hit or homer or something,” he said. “I think that’s why you see that I’ve had more violations than normal. Because I’m not going to rush a pitch. And I have a couple of times this year and it just doesn’t seem like it works out good. I’ll take my ball and work it from there.”

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If Kimbrel doesn’t go into his full motion by the time the clock runs out — 15 seconds with the bases empty, 20 seconds with a runner on base — the batter is given an automatic ball.

Kimbrel says he doesn’t mind pitching behind in the count, but his pitching coach, Caleb Cotham, would prefer if he chose to take his time when he’s in a more favorable situation.

“A time we talked about where we’re OK is if it’s 0-2 and you can’t get to the right pitch in time,” Cotham said. “That’s a time to take a ball rather than rush a pitch with two strikes. But we don’t want to give them free pitches.

“I don’t think it’s a problem. We’re not out there doing timing work. It’s just get the call in a little quicker, get on the mound a little quicker, notice if you’re up against the clock. I think, especially when we’re in different places, like at home, it’s a little more beatable. Road, it’s a little different, timing wise.”

It’s been an ongoing conversation this season.

“I’m getting pitch-clock violations because I take my time,” Kimbrel said. “I think at certain points, I do need to speed up. I guess that’s why we got the clock, to tell me to speed up a little bit, but it is what it is. When I get the violation and I move on and worry about making the next pitch.”

Rhys Hoskins, who is still rehabbing a left ACL tear he suffered in March, took batting practice on the field for the first time this regular season on Thursday.

“It felt good,” he said. “I can still find the barrel which is nice to remind myself. I’m sure there’s a little bit of lack of confidence but that comes with reps. I feel much better right now than I did a week ago when I was hitting. Just with what I’m able to do with my legs and my body during a swing. So we’ll keep trucking along. I’m still cautiously optimistic but I always know that tomorrow is the most important for how things are going to feel.”

Hoskins said it’s hard to give a timeline for his return at this point, but he is still hopeful to be able to play in a potential late playoff series.

“I don’t really know what the return to play protocol will look like, once I’m doing more intense baseball activity,” he said. “I don’t know how long that will typically take. Some of it will be if I’m ready to hit big league pitching. So, I would say yes, as a rough guess, of a late playoff series, but so much has to happen between now and then that it’s hard to say exactly.”

Phillies outfielder Johan Rojas and Lehigh Valley IronPigs reliever Orion Kerkering were named the 2023 Paul Owens Award recipients on Thursday afternoon. The award is given to the Phillies’ top minor league position player and pitcher … Lester Straker, the Phillies’ pitching coach for the Dominican Summer League Phillies White team, received the John Vukovich Award on Thursday. The award is presented to a coach who shows “loyalty, dedication, competitiveness, knowledge, honesty, and a terrific work ethic,” according to a team press release.