Former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Michael Kelly was released by his current MLB team.
Kelly was with the Athletics, but after being designated for assignment on June 29, the A’s officially released him on July 5, according to the MLB transactions log.
Kelly is in his fifth MLB season, as he made his MLB debut in 2022 with the Phillies. The right-hander was selected in the first round of the 2011 MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres. However, he never reached the MLB with the Padres and elected free agency in 2017 and signed with the Baltimore Orioles.
Yet, he spent the entire year in the minors and ended up signing in Independent ball in 2019. After not pitching in 2020, he signed with the Houston Astros in 2021, but once again couldn’t get a call-up and signed a minor-league deal with the Phillies for the 2022 season.
Kelly finally got a chance to pitch in the MLB as he was selected to the 40–man roster and promoted to the major leagues for the first time in June. He ended up going 0-0 with a 2.25 ERA in 4 appearances, in 4 innings. However, he was outrighted to Triple-A and elected free agency at the end of the season.
The veteran right-hander then spent the 2023 season with the Cleveland Guardians before being claimed off waivers by the Athletics in November. He pitched for three seasons in the majors for the Athletics, including 42 appearances last year before being released.
In his MLB career, Kelly is 8-6 with a 3.72 ERA in 93 games in parts of five MLB seasons.
Kelly Had Long Road to MLB
When Kelly finally made his MLB debut with the Phillies, he was well-respected by his teammates for his long journey to get there.
The right-hander went from a first-round pick to pitching in independent ball before ever reaching the majors.
“I can’t put it into words. It’s been a long road, it’s been a lot of ups and downs, but it was worth every second,” Kelly said back in 2022. … “You think back on the years that you have put in, the things that you have been through and regardless of how rough things got, I still got to make it at the end. It was a good feeling. Now, it’s just a matter of getting better and figuring out how to get back up there and help the team win.”
Kelly ended up pitching well for the Phillies and has been in the MLB since 2022, but was just recently released as he looks for a new home.
Phillies Looking for Series Win
Philadelphia lost 5-2 to the Kansas City Royals on Sunday to drop the second game of a three-game series.
However, right-hander Aaron Nola pitched well as he went 7 innings, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits while striking out 7 and walking none. It was a solid performance from Nola, who has struggled this season.
“It’s obviously important that that start turns into a game that you feel like you’re in, you’re not scrambling the whole day,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said postgame. “He doesn’t necessarily have to pitch seven, but according to the game go five, six, seven, whatever it is, then it gives us a much better shot to be able to put some runs up. … Noles was good. It was good to see that. After the first obviously, he kind of had them off balance all day long.”
The Phillies are 50-40 and 3 games back of the Atlanta Braves for the top spot in the NL East.
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