William Ryan Kelly (born October 30, 1987) is an American former

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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

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 ...

who played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...

in 2015.

Career

Early career

Kelly attended Hilton Head High School in

Hilton Head, South Carolina Hilton Head Island, sometimes referred to as simply Hilton Head, is a Lowcountry resort town and barrier island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is northeast of Savannah, Georgia, and southwest of Charleston. The island is n ...

, and

Walters State Community College Walters State Community College (abbreviated as WSCC, and commonly known as Walters State) is a public community college based in Morristown, Tennessee. It was founded in 1970 and is operated by the Tennessee Board of Regents. The college was ...

in Morristown, Tennessee. The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Kelly in the 26th round of the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft. During the 2010–11 offseason, the Pirates traded Kelly to the Oakland Athletics for Corey Wimberly, and then the Athletics traded him to the Texas Rangers for

Guillermo Moscoso Guillermo Alejandro Moscoso (born November 14, 1983) is a Venezuelan professional baseball pitcher for the Bravos de León of the Mexican League. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics, Colorado R ...

. After the 2011 season, the Rangers traded Kelly to the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

for Luis Martinez. For the next two seasons, Kelly pitched in relief with the Texas League Champion AA San Antonio Missions and AAA Tucson Padres.

Atlanta Braves

Kelly signed as a free agent with the Braves in November 2013. He was promoted to the major leagues on June 28, 2015. He made his major league debut on June 30 against the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

, pitching one inning, in which he gave up one run on two hits, while recording a strikeout and a walk. He was released on March 5, 2016.

Later career

After his release from the Braves, Kelly signed with the

Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions The Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions, stylized as Uni-President 7-ᴇʟᴇᴠᴇn Lions, also known as Uni-Lions (), are a professional baseball team playing in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). The Lions are based in Tainan City, Ta ...

of the

Chinese Professional Baseball League The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL; ) is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989 and played the first season in 1990. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 20 ...

. On July 15, 2016, Kelly signed with the

Vaqueros Laguna The ''vaquero'' (; pt, vaqueiro, , ) is a horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula and extensively developed in Mexico from a methodology brought to Latin America from Spain. The vaquero became t ...

of the

Mexican Baseball League The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country. The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five t ...

. Gaining a release on August 11, 2016, he signed on to play in the winter off-season

Mexican Pacific League The Mexican Pacific League (), known as Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico for sponsorship reasons or simply LMP for its acronym in Spanish, is a professional baseball winter league based in Northern Mexico. The ten-team regular season schedule ru ...

with the

Yaquis de Obregon The Yaqui, Hiaki, or Yoeme, are a Native American people of the southwest, who speak a Uto-Aztecan language. Their homelands include the Río Yaqui valley in Sonora, Mexico, and the area below the Gila River in Arizona, Southwestern United St ...

. On April 6, 2017, Kelly signed with the

Somerset Patriots The Somerset Patriots are an American Minor League Baseball team based in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey, that is the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They compete in the Eastern League, known as the Double-A Northeast in 2021, and w ...

of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. On May 17, 2017, Kelly signed a minor league deal with the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

. He pitched in relief at both AAA & AA levels finishing the season with 2.97 ERA, 32 Ks in 30.1 IP, .86 WHIP with 6 saves. He elected free agency on November 6, 2017. Kelly continued putting up good numbers in 2017 when he signed on for the off-season first half with Cardenales de Lara in Liga Venezuela Beisbol Professional. He finished the half 1-1, 1.71 ERA, 21 IP, .76 WHIP and 9 saves. Kelly again pitched for Cardenales de Lara in 2018 winter season and on November 20, 2018, converted his 19th consecutive save, a club record. On March 28, 2018, Kelly signed with the

of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. On July 14, 2018 Kelly earned his 100th professional career save with 3 Ks in the 9th to preserve the 3-1 Patriots win. He became a free agent following the 2018 season. On April 3, 2019, Kelly signed with the

Toros de Tijuana The Toros de Tijuana (or Tijuana Bulls) are a Mexican Baseball team based in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. They are members of the Mexican Baseball League and play their home games at Estadio Chevron. Team history Original Attempt The fran ...

of the

Mexican League The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country. The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...

. He was traded to the Pericos de Puebla on May 14, 2019. On May 15, 2019, Kelly signed with the

Pericos de Puebla The Pericos de Puebla (English: "Puebla Parrots") are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League based in Puebla, Mexico. History The state of Puebla came upon baseball in the early 1920s when returning Poblanos that had come from militar ...

of the

. He was released on June 13, 2019. On June 22, 2019, Kelly signed with the

High Point Rockers The High Point Rockers are an American professional baseball team based at Truist Point ballpark in High Point, North Carolina, which is part of the Piedmont Triad region. They are members of the South Division of the Atlantic League of Profession ...

of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. He finished the regular season with 13 saves with 24 Ks in 24 IP. In this, their inaugural season, the Rockers made the 2019 ALPB playoffs via wild card. He became a free agent following the season. In the off-season 2019, Kelly signed with The Tomateros de Culiacán in the Mexican Pacific League based in Culiacán, Sinaloa. The Tomateros won the 2019-20 Mexican Pacific League title and went on to the Caribbean World Series. On November 22, 2019, Kelly signed with the

Acereros de Monclova The Acereros de Monclova (English: Monclova Steelers) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League based in Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico. Their home ballpark is Estadio de Béisbol Monclova, which has a capacity of 11,000 people. The Ace ...

of the

. Kelly did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the Mexican League season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. He later became a free agent.

References

External links

CPBL
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Ryan 1987 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Mexico American expatriate baseball players in Taiwan Arkansas Travelers players Atlanta Braves players Baseball players at the 2015 Pan American Games Baseball players from South Carolina Cardenales de Lara players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Eugene Emeralds players Gulf Coast Pirates players Gwinnett Braves players High Point Rockers players Lynchburg Hillcats players Major League Baseball pitchers Mexican League baseball pitchers Mississippi Braves players Myrtle Beach Pelicans players People from Hilton Head, South Carolina Pericos de Puebla players San Antonio Missions players Senadores de San Juan players Somerset Patriots players State College Spikes players Surprise Saguaros players Tacoma Rainiers players Tomateros de Culiacán players Toros de Tijuana players Tucson Padres players Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions players Vaqueros Laguna players Walters State Senators baseball players Walters State Community College alumni West Virginia Power players Yaquis de Obregón players Pan American Games competitors for the United States