Craig Kimbrel will be ready for opening day after daughter's second heart surgery

Red Sox reliever Craig Kimbrel said he will be on hand opening day on March 29, when the team travels to Tampa Bay to face the Rays.

Kimbrel took a leave of absence three weeks ago to be at his infant daughter's side, who was undergoing heart surgery.

"Everyone is sending out prayers that have definitely been heard," Kimbrel said in a news conference Monday. "She's in a good, comfortable place for me to be down here. If she wasn't, I wouldn't be here. Again, I just want to thank everybody for being so understanding and everything they've done for us."

Kimbrel's daughter, Lydia, was born in November with a serious heart defect. She underwent her second surgery since birth and is doing well, according to her father.

"There's no denying it's been the toughest thing we've ever been through," Kimbrel said. "In the last week, her recovery has been unbelievable, and she's showing great signs."

Kimbrel said Lydia won't be released from the hospital for another three or four weeks, and that her third and final surgery won't be until she is age of 3 or 4 to "straighten up her anatomy so she can grow as a normal child."

Even though he was absent from spring training, Kimbrel said he still practiced a few hours a day at Babson College, which is close to Boston Children's Hospital.

"My family comes first and then baseball comes," Kimbrel said. "Stepping away for a few hours was definitely a release. It did help to get in the weight room. It did help to throw the ball. But that's not going to take away the emotions we went through in the hospital."

While he was gone, the Red Sox wore T-shirts that had #LydiaStrong on them to support the Kimbrel family.

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