Jared Matthew Kelley (born October 3, 2001) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

organization. He was selected by the

with the 47th pick of the

2020 MLB draft The 2020 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft took place on June 10 and 11, 2020. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2019 MLB season ...

Amateur career

Jared Kelley grew up in

Refugio, Texas Refugio ( ) is a town in Refugio County, Texas, Refugio County, of which it is the county seat, in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 2,890 as of the 2010 United States census, 2010 Census. Refugio is the birthplace of National Baseball H ...

and attended

Refugio High School Refugio Independent School District is a public school district based in Refugio, Texas (USA). Located in Refugio County, a small portion of the district extends into Bee and Victoria counties. In 2009, the school district was rated "academica ...

, where he played baseball and was a member of the varsity football team. He played on the varsity baseball team as a freshman and was named the District 32 Newcomer of the Year after going 7-1 on the mound with a 1.16 ERA, and 109 strikeouts in 60.1 innings pitched and batting .376. Kelley was the starting quarterback for the Bobcats and was named honorable mention All-State and the District 15-2A Offensive Player of the Year and helped lead Refugio to its third straight state championship game appearance. Despite his success, he decided to quit football after the season to focus on baseball. In baseball, Kelley posted a 9-2 record and a 0.34 earned-run average with 153 strikeouts. As a junior, he went 11-0 with a 0.24 ERA and 144 strikeouts in 65 innings pitched and was named to the first team All-South Texas. Kelley pitched four perfect innings in a 16-0 win against Agua Dulce High School, striking out all 12 batters he faced in succession. Kelley pitched for Team USA during the fall in the Under-18 Pan American Championship, helping the team win a gold medal, and played in the 2019 Under Armour All-America game in the following summer, starting the game and striking out five in two innings. He also played in the 2019 Perfect Game All American game, throwing a scoreless second inning for his West squad in a 4-2 win. Kelley initially committed to play college baseball at

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples ...

as a freshman, but de-committed and announced that he would instead play at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. Kelley entered his senior year as a top prospect for the

2020 Major League Baseball draft The 2020 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft took place on June 10 and 11, 2020. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2019 MLB season ...

and was rated the best high school prospect by ''MLB.com''. Kelley was named the 2020

Gatorade Player of the Year The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States. They are given for boys' baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine playe ...

after posting 3-0 record with a 0.00 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 12 innings before the season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic. Kelley finished his high school career with a 32-3 record with 0.43 ERA and had 23 pitching appearances without surrendering a hit.

Professional career

Kelley was selected by the

with the 47th overall pick in the

. Kelley signed with the White Sox on June 27, 2020 for a bonus of $3 million. He was invited to the White Sox alternate training site. Kelley was assigned to the Low-A Kannapolis Cannon Ballers for the 2021 season. He missed time during the season due to a shoulder injury. In 12 starts, Kelley went 0-7 with a 7.61 ERA, 27 strikeouts, and 26 walks over innings.

References

External links

USA Baseball profilePerfect Game Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelley, Jared 2001 births Living people Baseball players from Texas People from Refugio, Texas Baseball pitchers Kannapolis Cannon Ballers players Birmingham Barons players