A Saturday morning ride turned deadly on a North Alabama highway, leaving a local family and baseball fans grieving a sudden loss. Matt Kimbrel, a former Atlanta Braves minor league pitcher, died after his motorcycle slammed into a dump truck along U.S. Highway 431. He was 36 years old.
Local officers responded to the scene on the busy stretch of road near Cove Commons Drive. According to the Huntsville Police Department, Kimbrel was riding his motorcycle northbound when a heavy dump truck started making a turn across the lanes onto Cove Commons Drive.
Investigators pointed out that Kimbrel was moving fast as he came up on the intersection. He tried to stop, but the bike came up short. He lost control of the motorcycle and slid straight into the side of the truck.
The impact left Kimbrel with fatal injuries, and he died at the scene. Authorities haven’t shared specifics on the model of the bike or the truck, but they did confirm the preliminary details of how the wreck unfolded.
Huntsville police stated that no criminal charges are expected against the driver of the dump truck. Officers are keeping their focus on the exact timeline of events and the road conditions leading right up to the crash.
Kimbrel was well known in local baseball circles. Back in 2012, the Atlanta Braves picked him in the Major League Baseball draft. He spent three seasons pitching in the farm system, wearing the same organizational jersey where his younger brother got his start.
That younger brother is Craig Kimbrel, the long-time Major League closer who built a household name for himself on the mound. On Saturday, the Kansas City Royals placed Craig on the bereavement list as the family gathered to deal with the heavy loss.
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