{"id":160842,"date":"2026-02-19T05:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T05:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/160842\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T05:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T05:17:08","slug":"mets-impressed-by-craig-kimbrels-unreal-presence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/160842\/","title":{"rendered":"Mets impressed by Craig Kimbrel&#8217;s &#8216;unreal&#8217; presence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 Even as a non-roster invitee to camp, Craig Kimbrel turns heads every time he steps on a mound.\u2028Kimbrel, a possible future Hall of Fame closer, threw an inning of live batting practice Wednesday for the Mets at Clover Park.<\/p>\n<p>The highlight was two plate appearances against Juan Soto, another possible future Hall of Famer. Soto hit an infield grounder and walked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Kimbrel\u2019s] presence, it\u2019s unreal,\u201d manager Carlos Mendoza said. \u201cWe know the sweeper is good, the curveball and he\u2019s also got the cutter now that he\u2019s playing around with. He\u2019s going to get a chance here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kimbrel, 37, pitched to a 2.25 ERA in 14 appearances for the Braves and Astros last season. <\/p>\n<p>The right-hander has amassed 440 saves over his 16-year major league career.<\/p>\n<p>Mendoza was asked what has stood out about Kimbrel early in camp.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust the way he carries himself, a humble guy,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about a guy that is pretty close to a Hall of Fame career. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s out there like he is a rookie, how respectful he is, how open he is to share experiences. It\u2019s been great to have him here.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38536303\" width=\"734\" height=\"490\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260218_MetsSpringTraining_CS043.jpg\" alt=\"New York Mets pitcher Craig Kimbrel throws live batting practice during Spring Training at Clover Field, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, in Port St. Lucie, FL. \" class=\"wp-image-38536303\" style=\"width:734px;height:auto;aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\"  \/>Craig Kimbrel throws live batting practice during Mets\u2019 spring training practice on Feb. 18, 2026 in Port St. Lucie. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38536304\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260218_MetsSpringTraining_CS045.jpg\" alt=\"New York Mets Catcher Hayden Senger greets pitcher Craig Kimbrel during Spring Training at Clover Field, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, in Port St. Lucie, FL.\" class=\"wp-image-38536304\"  \/>Catcher Hayden Senger greets pitcher Craig Kimbrel during Mets\u2019 spring training on Feb. 18, 2026. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n<p>The Mets broke ground on a 55,000-square-foot player development complex adjacent to Clover Park that is scheduled for completion by spring training 2027. <\/p>\n<p>The team\u2019s president of baseball operations, David Stearns, participated in the ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe state-of-the-art complex that we\u2019re going to build here will provide our athletes and our coaches with everything they can possibly need,\u201d Stearns said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s going to cement us as the preeminent development organization in baseball, starting with our brand-new complex in the Dominican, extending here to our home in Florida and stretching through every affiliate that we have throughout the country.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDelivering insights on all things Amazin\u2019s\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Mets by Mike Puma, exclusively on Sports+\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>The $60 million project is fully funded by the Mets and coincides with a lease extension that includes options that would keep the team in Port St. Lucie until 2052.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 Even as a non-roster invitee to camp, Craig Kimbrel turns heads every time he&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[76042,77015,3817,12193,171,173,172,110],"class_list":["post-160842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-carlos-mendoza","tag-craig-kimbrel","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-mets","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}