Michael

Kelly

Kelly returns to the minors to enable the club to bring up a fresh arm. The 33-year-old reliever has posted an unsightly 16.20 ERA and 6/6 K/BB ratio across five innings this season in the majors.

Kelly was supposed to be a key part of the A’s pen, but he was sent down on Apr. 9 after giving up three runs in 4 1/3 innings. He had since posted a 4.91 ERA and a 17/7 K/BB in 14 2/3 innings for Las Vegas.

Kelly has allowed three runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings of relief so far this season. He will likely get another chance in the Athletics’ bullpen in the near future.

Kelly replaced Hogan Harris on the mound for the A’s with the bases loaded and two outs with a one-run lead in the eighth. He was able to escape the inning and returned for the ninth before blowing the save chance on a solo homer by Alejandro Kirk. Harris had given up two runs in the eighth, while Mark Leiter Jr. and Elvis Alvarado surrendered runs in the sixth and seventh. The takeaway here is to avoid the situation if hunting for saves.

Kelly has given up three runs and amassed a 9/3 K/BB in 7 2/3 innings this spring, and he has to be viewed as a candidate for saves in a wide-open A’s pen. After all, he has a career 3.04 ERA in 91 2/3 innings, even if his below average strikeout and groundball rates do nothing to back it up.

We figured both Hogan Harris and Kelly would be unavailable tonight, but the A’s decided it was worth using Kelly for a third straight day to finish off the Pirates. Kelly is 33, so it’s not like he’s a big part of the Athletics’ future, even if he’s almost surely in their plans for 2026. He’ll have less than two years of service time after his full-season gambling suspension, so he’ll make close to the minimum next season.

Kelly didn’t strike out anyone today, but he has been much better in that department lately; he has a 6/1 K/BB in his last 4 2/3 innings, compared to 20/15 in 30 1/3 innings previously. That improvement might make him the favorite for saves in the A’s pen during the final two weeks.

With the A’s taking Jack Perkins out of the mix to replace Mason Miller, Kelly seems like a leading candidate for saves on the roster of the team currently based in Sacramento. However, while he’s allowed just three runs in 20 innings since returning from his gambling suspension, his 13/9 K/BB isn’t impressive at all. He doesn’t really seem worth speculating on at the moment.

Kelly, 32, was suspended for wagering $99.71 on games last summer. The 32-year-old will return to a rule in the middle of the A’s bullpen for the remainder of 2025.

Kelly wagered $99.71 on games according to Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal. The right-hander had been a big part of the Oakland bullpen, but now won’t be able to pitch in games until the summer of 2025.