Who is Merrill Kelly? Team USA’s WBC final starting pitcher has had journeyman career to Diamondbacks
Merrill Kelly once retired from American pro baseball while trying to keep his sporting career alive. On Tuesday, he will take the mound for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic finals.
Team USA manager Mark DeRosa hinted that after the team’s semifinal win over Cuba on Sunday, Kelly would likely get the ball during Tuesday’s championship.
“Obviously, it looks like today is Merrill Kelly’s day,” DeRosa told reporters.
Kelly has only made one appearance in the WBC, giving up two carries with four hits and two walks while winning every third inning against Colombia.
Passing the ball to Kelly in the final will put the ball in the hands of one of America’s best pitchers, despite his shaky WBC streak. Last season, Kelly had a 3.37 ERA over 200.1 innings of work despite fielding playoff powerhouses like the Padres and Dodgers in the NL West.
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As Kelly prepares to appear on the biggest stage of his career, The Sporting News takes a look back at his long journey to the start of the WBC Finals, which is all about winning.
Who is Merrill Kelly?
Kelly is a 34-year-old right-handed pitcher who currently plays for the Diamondbacks. The veteran starter is in his fourth season with Arizona and is expected to be No. 2 in the rotation behind opening-day ace and likely starter Zac Gallen.
While Kelly will get the ball for the most important start of his career, his journey up to this point has been far from easy.
Here’s a look at how Arizona’s right-hander made it to the WBC.
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Merrill Kelly career timeline
Yavapai College
Kelly came from Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, Arizona and was selected by the Orioles in the 37th round of the 2007 MLB Draft. However, he chose the Juco route at Yavapai College instead.
In his first season there, Kelly averaged a 5.53 ERA in 70 innings with 55 strikeouts and 17 walks. But he experienced a big leap the following season. As a sophomore in 2009, Kelly had an impressive 1.48 ERA in 97.1 innings of work with 88 strikeouts and just 24 walks. With Kelly on the team, the Roughriders won back-to-back ACCAC Conference titles.
That performance in his sophomore year was enough for Kelly to earn MLB consideration again. Baseball America wrote that while his stats were excellent, the scouts did not view him as favorably as the coaches of the teams he faced. The site described him as a top 80s/low 90s fastball with a change that was almost an Eephus.
Cleveland selected him in the 22nd round of the 2009 MLB Draft, but Kelly again turned down the chance to go pro, instead focusing on the next level of college ball.
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State of Arizona
After graduating from Yavapai, Kelly transferred to the state of Arizona and stayed in his home state to perform at Tempe as a junior.
Kelly had his ups and downs throughout the season. He had a 4.23 ERA but also went 10-3 with 78 strikeouts in 100 innings of work. In his only season with the Sun Devils, he was named to the All-Pac 10 team.
This season would be his last in Arizona – for a while. Kelly was back on the MLB draft review with his scouting report improving in the face of stiffer competition. Baseball America continued to see mixed results from Kelly, praising his ability to achieve success but had concerns about his performance.
“You just don’t see guys like that in the big leagues,” a scout told BA. The site said he probably best distinguished himself as a helper with the pros.
The Rays liked what they saw from Kelly and drafted him 251st overall in the 2010 MLB Draft, and this time he signed to take his talents to the pros.
Tampa Bay Rays
Kelly went straight into the pros in 2010, posting a 4.30 ERA with Tampa Bay’s Low-A and Class-A teams in 37.2 innings.
The next year he was a full-time starter with the team’s High-A partner and showed some improvement. In 25 games, he had a 3.28 ERA but continued to struggle with missing at-bats, with just 70 strikeouts to 51 walks in 129 innings.
Kelly continued to rise through the Minors, posting solid ERAs albeit with low strikeout rates and high walk rates. At Double-A in 2012, he had a 3.57 ERA in 88.1 innings but had 61 strikeouts in 28 walks. In 2013, between Double-A and Triple-A, it was a 3.64 ERA with 111 strikeouts and 65 walks in 158.1 innings.
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He seemed to turn a corner in 2014 when he had what was by far the best season of his career. In 114 innings, he had a 2.76 ERA with 108 strikeouts and just 37 walks, which makes for the lowest BB/9 rate of his MiLB career (2.9) and by far his best strikeout rate (8.5 to 6.3 in 2013) applies.
But after the season, he was a free agent and didn’t return to the majors. Instead, Kelly went overseas.
SK Wyverns (KBO)
Kelly’s 2014 season may not have brought him the success he had hoped for in the US, but it did bring him international attention. According to Cut4, South Korea’s KBO League’s SK Wyverns asked the Rays about Kelly, but they were turned away on a buyout fee.
After failing to land him that season, SK Wyverns signed him after the season. Kelly said he considered it the best option for him since he wasn’t included in Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster or selected in the Rule 5 draft, and he began to believe his future with the team was as Swingman and pitching would go off-rotation as well as in the bullpen. he wanted to be a beginner.
Nevertheless, the KBO was an unknown relative.
“When I was first approached, I had no idea a KBO even existed,” Kelly told Cut4. “I knew the NPB, I knew people who have been playing to Japan for a long time, but I had never heard of the KBO and I didn’t know that there was a professional league in Korea.”
Life in Korea was a change for him, he said. He didn’t speak the language, the training schedule and food were different, and his girlfriend still lived in the US and worked as a kindergarten teacher. He said his teammates helped him adjust to the new situation.
Kelly saw mixed results in 2015, his first season at the KBO. He had a 4.13 ERA in the hitter-dominant league over 181 innings and had just 139 strikeouts and 54 walks in the season.
But with each passing year, Kelly saw improvements. He had a 3.68 ERA in 2016 and a 3.60 ERA in 2017 while also posting a 9.0 K/9 with 189 strikeouts in 190 innings. Though his ERA rose back to 4.09 in 2018, he also hit out 161 batters in 158.1 innings with just 47 walks, his first time in the pros with more strikeouts than innings.
At this point, he also increased his speed from the low 90s with Tampa Bay all the way up to a 97 in Korea.
“I wish I could tell what exactly contributed to the increase in speed, but honestly I don’t have a solid answer for you,” Kelly told Cut4.
“Sometimes you have to be your own pitching coach over there,” Kelly added. “Just whether something gets lost in translation or whether or not they’re tackling the same problem, but they’re tackling it a little bit differently. Sometimes you have to navigate the waters alone. It forced me to look for things I didn’t do before because you have to fix it.”
Kelly hit the free hand after the 2018 season and soon returned to baseball. And this time it should be in the majors.
Arizona Diamondbacks
Kelly was signed to the Diamondbacks in December 2018 and earned a spot on the Opening Day roster as a starter in Arizona, the state where he attended both high school and college.
In his first season, he led the NL with 14 losses, but he also led the team with 13 wins. He posted a 4.42 ERA in 183.1 innings with 158 strikeouts and 57 walks. The next year, he had a 2.59 ERA in five starts in a COVID-shortened season that also saw him shut down in September with an injury.
His ERA peaked at 4.44 in 2021, but his walk rate also dropped to 2.3 BB/9 in 158 innings of work. He also hit 130 batters (7.4K/9).
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The last year was his best. In 2022, he had a 3.37 ERA while leading the NL with 33 starts. He had 177 strikeouts in 200.1 innings with just 61 walks, good for 8.0 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9. Kelly was named NL Pitcher of the Month in July with a 4-0 record, a 1.31 ERA and a league-best 41.1 innings.
After seeing his ERA soar after a strong start, he improved his walk rate in July and walked just nine batters from July 1 to August 6.
“When I’m in command, it means I can be more aggressive and attack better,” Kelly said, according to AZCentral. “When I’m in command, it means I’m making early progress. That means I can expand the zone later. If I’m not in command, that means I’ll fall behind and then you’ll go into survival mode rather than attack mode.
Kelly will begin his 34-year season with the Diamondbacks. He is under contract until 2024 with a team option for the 2025 season.
As Arizona prepares for a possible breakout campaign for a young, exciting roster, Kelly will be a central part of their team. But on Tuesday, Kelly will focus only on helping his team win a second straight WBC title.