LAKE BUENVA VISTA, Fla. -- During the Braves early pitching camp weeks before spring training started, a reporter joked with Craig Kimbrel, asking him if he had been working on a changeup this winter.
"No, fastball, curveball," Kimbrel said laughing. "Fastball, curveball."
But during Thursday's first day of full-squad workouts at Disney's Wide World of Sports, those batters that faced the game's best closer saw that fastball that sits in the high 90s; they saw that power curveball.
And they saw a changeup.
"Chris Johnson (who faced Kimbrel) told me he threw a couple of change-ups," said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez. "He's probably just playing with it just to have a third pitch if he has to. I don't know how much he'll use it when the game comes around."
Certainly what he has already is working well. Kimbrel has a 1.52 ERA in four-plus seasons, with 186 saves -- he has led or tied the National League in that department every year -- along with 476 strikeouts to 108 walks.
That fastball has produced no fewer that 8.2 wFB (fastball runs above average) since 2010 and his curve, which was at 4.8 last year, peaked at 10.6 in 2013.
Kimbrel faced a group that included Johnson, Freddie Freeman, newcomer Melvin Upton, Jr. and newcomer Jonny Gomes. While Kimbrel didn't throw the changeup to Gomes, he had a good view of it from behind the batting cage.
"I saw him throw it," Gomes said. "Any time the ball leaves his hands it's going to be awesome. That guy finds another weapon? But at the same you don't want to tinker with the success he's had."
It could be nothing more than tinkering at a time when the pitchers are already well ahead of the batters. But what if? What if Kimbrel had the ability to mix that pitch in from time to time?
"It's just another thing that hitter has to check off before he gets in the box," Gomes said.
Follow Cory McCartney on Twitter @coryjmccartney
