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11 Things To Know About New Red Sox Closer Craig Kimbrel

BOSTON (CBS) -- The Boston Red Sox picked up an elite closer on Friday night, acquiring Craig Kimbrel from the San Diego Padres for four prospects.

Kimbrel has been one of the best closers in the game since he took over ninth innings for the Braves in 2011, and the pickup will let Boston use Koji Uehara (who turns 41 in April) as a setup man along with Junichi Tazawa to fortify an impressive back-end to their bullpen.

Here's all you need to know about Boston's new closer:

- Kimbrel went 4-2 with a 2.58 ERA and 39 saves in 43 opportunities for the Padres in 2015, striking out 87 over 59.1 innings of work.

- The 27-year-old leads all relievers with 224 saves since his first full season in 2011. He ranks second among relievers in that span with a 1.70 ERA and 523 strikeouts.

- It took Kimbrel just 318 games to notch his 200th career save, the fastest pace in Major League history.

- In the 355 games Kimbrel has pitched, he has allowed more than one earned run in just 14 of them.

- A third-round pick by the Braves in 2008, Kimbrel was the NL Rookie of the Year in 2011 after saving a rookie-record 46 games while striking out 127 over 77 innings pitched.

- Kimbrel led the National League in saves for four straight years from 2011-14, and was named to the NL All-Star team in each of those seasons.

- He became the fastest pitcher in Major League history to reach 400 career strikeouts in April 2014, hitting the mark in just 236 innings.

- In August 2014, Kimbrel became just the third pitcher to record 40 saves in four straight seasons. He joined Trevor Hoffman (who did it twice) and Francisco Rodriguez as the only pitchers to accomplish the feat.

- Kimbrel's average fastball clocked out at 97.3 mph last season -- the fifth-highest among relievers. He has occasionally hit 101 mph on the radar gun.

- He enters games to Guns 'N Roses' "Welcome To The Jungle," and has a rather intimidating/interesting stare on the mound when waiting for his catcher to throw down a sign.

Kimbrel-Stare
Closer Craig Kimbrel. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

- The Red Sox have Kimbrel under control for the next three seasons. He's signed for $11.25 million for 2016, $13.25 million in 2017 and Boston holds a team option for $13 million for the 2018 season.

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