{"id":856849,"date":"2026-09-22T17:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T17:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/856849\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T17:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T17:56:11","slug":"brother-of-longtime-mlb-star-craig-kimbrel-dead-at-36","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/856849\/","title":{"rendered":"Brother of Longtime MLB Star Craig Kimbrel Dead at 36"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The brother of longtime Major League Baseball star Craig Kimbrel has passed away. He was 36 years old.<\/p>\n<p>Matt Kimbrel, the brother of the flame-throwing closer, was killed in a motorcycle crash in Alabama. The crash took place in his hometown of Huntsville. It happened early on Saturday morning, around 8 a.m. <\/p>\n<p>According to reports, the crash happened when a dump truck ahead of him slowed down to turn, per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wctv.tv\/2026\/09\/20\/brother-former-braves-pitcher-killed-motorcycle-crash-with-dump-truck-police-say\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WCTV<\/a>. Kimbrel\u2019s brother reportedly was unable to stop in time, losing control of his motorcycle and sliding into the truck. <\/p>\n<p>Matt Kimbrel died from injuries suffered in the crash, per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.waff.com\/2026\/09\/20\/brother-former-atlanta-braves-pitcher-killed-huntsville-motorcycle-crash\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WAFF<\/a>. No criminal charges are likely to be filed.<\/p>\n<p>                                          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4e3c1017-63f1-4741-a2bb-041e4aab176f.jpeg\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" title=\"4e3c1017-63f1-4741-a2bb-041e4aab176f\" alt=\" PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA \u2013 OCTOBER 03: Craig Kimbrel #31 of the Philadelphia Phillies celebrates recording the final out to defeat the Miami Marlins 4-1 in Game One of the Wild Card Series at Citizens Bank Park on October 03, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Sarah Stier\/Getty Images) \"\/>                                                                                     PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA \u2013 OCTOBER 03: Craig Kimbrel #31 of the Philadelphia Phillies celebrates recording the final out to defeat the Miami Marlins 4-1 in Game One of the Wild Card Series at Citizens Bank Park on October 03, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Sarah Stier\/Getty Images)                                                                                     <\/p>\n<p>Matt Kimbrel was a baseball player, too. He was drafted by Atlanta in 2012 and played for three years in the minor leagues. Matt Kimbrel later worked as a pitching coach for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DJjzbFgR3Gs\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Talley Performance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Craig Kimbrel is one of the best closers in recent MLB history.<\/p>\n<p>The 38-year-old MLB veteran played for the Atlanta Braves from 2010-14, the San Diego Padres in 2015, the Boston Red Sox from 2016-18 and the Chicago Cubs from 2019-21, among other teams. Kimbrel most recently pitched for the New York Mets, Tampa Bay Rays and Kansas City Royals in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Kimbrel was a nine-time MLB All-Star. He was the National League Rookie of the Year in 2011. Kimbrel was a World Series champion with the Boston Red Sox in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Our thoughts are with his friends and family members during this incredibly difficult time.<\/p>\n<p>May his brother rest in peace.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n<p class=\"summary gray\">This story was originally published September 22, 2026 at 8:00 AM.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The brother of longtime Major League Baseball star Craig Kimbrel has passed away. He was 36 years old.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":856850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":["post-856849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=856849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}