Chicago White Sox: Craig Kimbrel’s milestone is actually insane

Earlier this week, the Chicago White Sox saw their new relief pitcher reach a big-time milestone. Craig Kimbrel has been very good since coming over in a trade with the Chicago Cubs at the trade deadline. It is a risky trade that they made but it has worked out well so far.

In Monday’s win over the Oakland A’s, Kimbrel threw his 1000th career strikeout. That is an incredible milestone for a pitcher like him and his Hall of Fame career. We hope that there are many more to come in a White Sox uniform but this deserves to be talked about.

Let’s think about this for a minute. Craig Kimbrel now has 1001 strikeouts. He has only ever been a closer in his MLB career which means that he only gets an inning in any of his appearances. There might be a few times where he went for a six-out save but it is mostly one inning for these guys. Not only is it one inning, but it is also the hardest inning to get three outs in.

Kimbrel has appeared in 613.0 innings in his MLB career. That means he is averaging 1.6 strikeouts an inning. That is incredible. It is no wonder why he was an All-Star eight times along with multiple other career awards including a World Series title in 2018.

The Chicago White Sox are hoping that Craig Kimbrel continues to rack up strikeouts.

Going forward, Kimbrel will have the opportunity to pitch in some high-leverage situations of very important games. The White Sox believe that they can win the World Series if everything goes well and Kimbrel is going to be a big part of their potential run.

It is going to be fun to see how Tony La Russa works his bullpen. With Liam Hendriks, they have two elite closers that can play the role well. They also have other studs like Michael Kopech, Garrett Crochet, Aaron Bummer, and Ryan Tepera to get the job done ahead of the closers. With a group like that, it is easy to be excited.

As for Kimbrel and his milestone, he should be proud. Having that type of career strikeout number is incredible for anyone but it is extra special for someone who mostly only ever goes for one inning per appearance.

For reference, Mark Buehrle had 1870 strikeouts which is a nice number. However, he had 3283.1 innings pitched which is a lot more than Kimbrel’s 613. Everyone should be very impressed with this milestone that Kimbrel has achieved. Congrats to him.