Kimbrel never allowed more than one run or one hit in a game. He seemed most surprised that he somehow avoided the bad outing or two that would have normalized his numbers.

“Towards the end of the season, looking back on it, I was pretty amazed at what I was able to do,” he said. “Because it’s not something where I could say, ‘I want to go and do this this year.’ It just worked out that way.”

Kimbrel, 24, grew up in Alabama rooting for the Braves, who drafted him in the 33rd round in 2007 and again in the third round in 2008, when he signed out of Wallace State Community College. Kimbrel knew he threw hard, but he said he did not realize his fastball was different until the minors.

“I started talking to catchers, and they told me my fastball had life to it, an extra giddyap when it came to the plate,” he said. “I wouldn’t say I’m the hardest thrower, but I feel like my fastball kind of jumps.”

Hitters confirmed that, striking out 242 times against Kimbrel in 151 minor league innings. He did walk about five and a half hitters per nine innings but earned a call-up to the majors in 2010, when he pitched in the division series and learned from Billy Wagner, another smallish, hard-throwing closer.

With Wagner retiring, the Braves planned to split the closer’s role in 2011 between the left-handed Jonny Venters and the right-handed Kimbrel, depending on matchups. That system worked in the 1980s for the Mets, with Jesse Orosco and Roger McDowell, who is now the Braves’ pitching coach.

“I think we finished with 46 saves combined, and that’s pretty good,” said McDowell, accurately recalling the save total for the 1986 Mets. “So that was part of the thought process. Both of them were new, young and inexperienced pitchers. But we didn’t do it very much, and especially after the first couple of months, it was a nonissue. We weren’t going to co-close.”