Casey Patrick Kelly (born October 4, 1989) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

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 professiona ...

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 dr ...

for the

LG Twins LG Corporation (or LG Group) (), formerly Lucky-Goldstar from 1983 to 1995 (Korean: ''Leokki Geumseong''; ), is a South Korean multinational conglomerate founded by Koo In-hwoi and managed by successive generations of his family. It is t ...

of the

KBO League The KBO League (), officially the Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League, is the highest level league of baseball in South Korea. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers ar ...

. He was a first-round draft choice, 30th overall, in the

2008 Major League Baseball Draft The 2008 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft continued Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft of high school and college baseball players, and was held on June 5 and 6, 2008. First round selections ;Key Supplemental first ro ...

by the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

. Kelly was the top minor league prospect in the Red Sox organization when he was acquired by 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 ...

after the 2010 season, along with three other prospects, in exchange for All-Star player

Adrián González Adrián González Savín (born May 8, 1982), also known by his nicknames "A-Gon" and "Titán", is a Mexican-American former professional baseball first baseman He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres, ...

. He made his

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 (A ...

(MLB) debut with San Diego in 2012, but underwent

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's ...

the following year. Kelly was traded to 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 ...

after the 2015 season. He has also pitched for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yo ...

Professional career

Draft

Kelly was drafted in the first round, 30th overall, in the

by the

. He was drafted as a

, though he wanted to play

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

. Kelly was also offered a scholarship to play football for the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th sta ...

, as he was a two-time regional player of the year as a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Am ...

Sarasota High School Sarasota High School is a public high school of the Sarasota County Public Schools in Sarasota, Florida, United States, a city on the Gulf of Mexico coast south of Tampa. The school colors are black and orange and the mascot is a sailor. Histo ...

. Kelly chose baseball over football and signed with the Red Sox for a $3 million signing bonus, $700,000 more than the sixth player in the draft received.

Boston Red Sox

Kelly played the first half of the 2009 season with the

Greenville Drive The Greenville Drive are a Minor League Baseball team based in Greenville, South Carolina. They are the High-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox and are a member of the South Atlantic League. They play their home games at Fluor Field at the West E ...

and

Salem Red Sox The Salem Red Sox are a Minor League Baseball affiliate of the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB), based in Salem, an independent city adjacent to Roanoke, Virginia. The team competes at the Single-A level in the Carolina League. Ho ...

as a pitcher. He was elected to the

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National Leag ...

. He finished the second half of season as a shortstop. On December 8, 2009, Kelly announced his decision to continue his career as a full-time pitcher. He had hit .222 while striking out 27 percent of the time, while he had a 6–1 record with a 1.12 ERA pitching with Class A Greenville. Kelly played for the Double-A

Portland Sea Dogs The Portland Sea Dogs are a Minor League Baseball team based in Portland, Maine, playing in the Eastern League. Established in 1994, the Sea Dogs are the Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. The Sea Dogs became part of the Red Sox sys ...

in 2010, posting a 5.31 ERA in 21 starts. In 2010 mid-season minor league prospect rankings, Kelly was ranked #10 by

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and #24 by

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

San Diego Padres

On December 6, 2010, Kelly was traded along with Anthony Rizzo, Reymond Fuentes, and Eric Patterson to the

for three-time All-Star first baseman

. Kelly was considered the top prospect in the Red Sox organization. Entering the 2011 season, he was ranked 22 among the Top 50 Prospects by MLB.com. The Padres invited Kelly as a non-roster player to their Major League camp for 2011 Spring Training. The top prospect in the Padres' Minor League system, Kelly opened the 2011 regular season in Double-A with the

San Antonio Missions The San Antonio Missions are a Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League and the Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. They are located in San Antonio, Texas, and are named for the Spanish missions around which the city was founded ...

. He put up a 3.98 ERA with 105 strike-outs in 27 starts and 142 innings with San Antonio. Kelly strained his elbow in his second start for Triple-A

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

in April 2012. He started his rehabilitation with the rookie-league

Arizona League Padres The Arizona Complex League Padres are a Rookie-level affiliate of the San Diego Padres, competing in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team plays its home games at Peoria Sports Complex in Peoria, Arizona, which is also ...

in July and then started three games for San Antonio. He was promoted to the Major Leagues to replace the injured

Jason Marquis Jason Scott Marquis (; born August 21, 1978) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Colorado Rockies, Washington Nationals, Ariz ...

in San Diego's starting rotation. Kelly earned a win after pitching six shutout innings in a 3–0 victory over the

in his Major League debut on August 27, 2012. He also recorded his first major league hit in the game. Kelly was the 15th different starting pitcher used by the Padres in 2012, which ties a club record. Kelly made six starts for the Padres in 2012, going 2–3 with a 6.21 ERA. On March 22, 2013, it was announced that Kelly had micro tears in his UCL. He underwent

on April 2 and was placed on the team's disabled list. He began throwing again in September and was still considered a premium prospect coming into 2014. Kelly came back from injury in 2014 but only appeared in a couple of starts in the minors. In 2015, Kelly was converted into a reliever, appearing in 20 games, 6 starts in AA before being called up to the

El Paso Chihuahuas The El Paso Chihuahuas are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. They are located in El Paso, Texas, and play their home games at Southwest University Park, which opened ...

, the Padres AAA minor league affiliate.

Atlanta Braves

On December 10, 2015, the Padres traded Kelly and Ricardo Rodriguez to the

for Christian Bethancourt. Kelly was assigned to the Triple-A

Gwinnett Braves The Gwinnett Stripers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They play their home games at Coolray Field in unincorporated Gwinnett County, Georgia (with a Lawrencevi ...

, and recalled to the major leagues on April 20, 2016. Three days later, he was optioned to Gwinnett. Kelly was recalled once again in May to make his first start with the Braves, giving up three runs in five innings in a 5–0 loss to the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

. On July 2, 2016, he was optioned to AAA Gwinnett. Kelly was outrighted on November 2, 2016.

Chicago Cubs

On January 27, 2017, Kelly signed a minor league deal with the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

and was invited to spring training. He was released in July.

San Francisco Giants

On July 29, 2017, Kelly signed a minor league deal with the

. He elected free agency on November 6, 2017. He re-signed, to a minor league deal with the Giants on February 25, 2018. Kelly was called up to relieve and start for the major league team in mid-August, due to other pitchers' injuries. In seven games (three starts), he went 0–3 with an ERA of 3.04 over innings.

LG Twins

On November 20, 2018, Kelly signed to a one-year, $1 million deal with the

of the

for the 2019 season. He re-signed for the 2020 season on a $1.5 million contract. On December 10, 2020, Kelly re-signed with the Twins for the 2021 season on a $1.4MM contract. On December 12, 2021, Kelly re-signed with the Twins for the 2022 season on a $1.2 million deal. On December 2, 2022, Kelly re-signed a one-year contact for the 2023 season worth $1.8 million.

Awards

* 2008 Louisville Slugger Pre-Season High School First Team All-American * Mr. Baseball Florida 2008 * Florida 6A Player of the Year 2008 * Red Sox ML Pitcher of the Month (April 2009) * Carolina League Player of the Week (June 1–7, 2009) * South Atlantic League All-Star (2009) * Futures Game All-Star (2009) * Carolina League Player of the Week (June 22–28, 2009) * 2009 Red Sox Minor League Pitcher of the Year * 2010 Portland Sea Dogs Pitcher of the Year

Personal life

Kelly's father, Pat Kelly appeared in three major league games as a catcher. Kelly made his major league debut in 2012, on his father's 57th birthday.

References

External links

MiLB Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Casey 1989 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in South Korea Sarasota High School alumni Sportspeople from Sarasota, Florida Baseball players from Florida Major League Baseball pitchers KBO League pitchers San Diego Padres players Atlanta Braves players San Francisco Giants players LG Twins players Gulf Coast Red Sox players Lowell Spinners players Salem Red Sox players Greenville Drive players Salem Avalanche players Portland Sea Dogs players San Antonio Missions players Tucson Padres players Arizona League Padres players Mesa Solar Sox players Peoria Javelinas players Lake Elsinore Storm players El Paso Chihuahuas players Gwinnett Braves players Iowa Cubs players Sacramento River Cats players