diff --git a/cruise-control/src/main/java/com/linkedin/kafka/cruisecontrol/monitor/sampling/CruiseControlMetricsReporterSampler.java b/cruise-control/src/main/java/com/linkedin/kafka/cruisecontrol/monitor/sampling/CruiseControlMetricsReporterSampler.java
index 1ff4888de..b4caf91f6 100644
--- a/cruise-control/src/main/java/com/linkedin/kafka/cruisecontrol/monitor/sampling/CruiseControlMetricsReporterSampler.java
+++ b/cruise-control/src/main/java/com/linkedin/kafka/cruisecontrol/monitor/sampling/CruiseControlMetricsReporterSampler.java
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ public class CruiseControlMetricsReporterSampler implements MetricSampler {
   private static final long METRIC_REPORTER_CONSUMER_POLL_TIMEOUT = 5000L;
   // Default configs
   private static final String DEFAULT_METRIC_REPORTER_SAMPLER_GROUP_ID = "CruiseControlMetricsReporterSampler";
+  private static final Long DEFAULT_RECONNECT_BACKOFF_MS = 50L;
   // static metric processor for metrics aggregation.
   private static final CruiseControlMetricsProcessor METRICS_PROCESSOR = new CruiseControlMetricsProcessor();
   // static random token to avoid group conflict.
@@ -218,6 +219,10 @@ public void configure(Map<String, ?> configs) {
     if (groupId == null) {
       groupId = DEFAULT_METRIC_REPORTER_SAMPLER_GROUP_ID + "-" + RANDOM.nextLong();
     }
+    Long reconnectBackoffMs = (Long) configs.get(KafkaCruiseControlConfig.RECONNECT_BACKOFF_MS_CONFIG);
+    if (reconnectBackoffMs == null) {
+      reconnectBackoffMs = DEFAULT_RECONNECT_BACKOFF_MS;
+    }
 
     Properties consumerProps = new Properties();
     consumerProps.putAll(configs);
@@ -230,8 +235,7 @@ public void configure(Map<String, ?> configs) {
     consumerProps.setProperty(ConsumerConfig.MAX_POLL_RECORDS_CONFIG, Integer.toString(Integer.MAX_VALUE));
     consumerProps.setProperty(ConsumerConfig.KEY_DESERIALIZER_CLASS_CONFIG, StringDeserializer.class.getName());
     consumerProps.setProperty(ConsumerConfig.VALUE_DESERIALIZER_CLASS_CONFIG, MetricSerde.class.getName());
-    consumerProps.setProperty(ConsumerConfig.RECONNECT_BACKOFF_MS_CONFIG,
-                              (String) configs.get(KafkaCruiseControlConfig.RECONNECT_BACKOFF_MS_CONFIG));
+    consumerProps.setProperty(ConsumerConfig.RECONNECT_BACKOFF_MS_CONFIG, reconnectBackoffMs.toString());
     _metricConsumer = new KafkaConsumer<>(consumerProps);
     _currentPartitionAssignment = Collections.emptySet();
     if (refreshPartitionAssignment()) {