The baseball timeline of pitcher Merrill Kelly
2010: Kelly gets drafted
With the 251st overall pick in the 2010 MLB draft, The Tampa Bay Rays selected pitcher Merrill Kelly out of Arizona State University. This was actually Kelly’s third time being drafted but the first time he actually signed with the team that drafted him. In Kelly’s lone season with the Sun Devils, he went 10-3 with a 3.23 ERA in 18 starts. Merrill was ready to start his big league career…
2010-2014: Minor opposition…
Kelly pitched a total of 5 minor league seasons. In his first season in the minors (2010), Kelly was, well to be honest, average. In 37.2 innings pitched, Kelly went 1-2 with a 4.30 ERA and 29 strikeouts. Flip the pages of the calendar and Kelly improved in a big way. Kelly made 23 starts in high-A and went 8-7 with a 3.28 ERA over the course of 129 innings (2011). Quite the improvement for a man that was new to the minor league scene…
No doubt, Kelly was good in 2011, but it wouldn’t be his most impressive minor leauge season. In 2012, Kelly got promoted to AA. In 88.1 AA innings, Kelly went 8-3 with a 3.57 ERA. In 2013, Kelly got promoted to AAA, and in 14 starts at that level, he went 8-4 with a 3.19 ERA. The story keeps getting better. In 2014, Kelly’s last year in the minors, he went 9-4 with a 2.76 ERA over the course of 114 innings. It was evident that Kelly was ready to pitch in the majors…
2015-2018: Kelly goes to the KBO?!
For a reason only Kelly knows, he left baseball in America and signed with the SK Wyverns of the Korea Baseball Organization ahead of the 2015 season. Here is how his Wyverns career went:
2015: 29 starts, 11-10 record, 4.13 ERA, 1.34 WHIP
2016: 31 starts, 9-8 record, 3.68 ERA, 1.32 WHIP
2017: 30 starts, 16-7 record, 3.60 ERA, 1.31 WHIP
2018: 28 starts, 12-7 record, 4.09 ERA, 1.26 WHIP
He finished his career in Korea with 48 wins, a 3.86 ERA, and a 1.31 WHIP. It was time for Kelly, to head back to the states…
2018-Present: The rest is history...
On December 4, 2018, the Arizona Diamondbacks signed Merrill to a two-year-$5.5 million contract. 2019, would mark Kelly’s first MLB action. In his debut season, Kelly went 13-14 with a 4.42 ERA over 32 stars. Not bad for a rookie. The next season, plagued and shortened by the coronavirus, Kelly went 3-2 with a 2.59 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP over 5 starts. In 2021, Kelly went 7-11 with a 4.44 ERA over the course of 27 starts; and in 2022, Kelly had his best season in the bigs. In 33 starts, Kelly went 13-8 with a 3.37 ERA, a .226 BAA, and a 1.14 WHIP. Kelly has always been steady and reliable, but last season he was commanding…
On April 1, 2022, Kelly signed a two-year, $18 million contract extension with the Diamondbacks. Despite his age, Arizona really likes what they have in Kelly. A reliable veteran starter that can eat up innings and give you a chance to win every game. What a wild baseball career and life in general rollercoaster ride for Kelly over the years. When you think about where he has been and where he is now, you can’t help but be impressed. For the 2023 season, he is set to slot into the 2nd spot in the rotation, behind future Cy Young, Zac Gallen…