The Pirates gave out 16 bonuses of six figures or more after the delayed 2020-21 international signing period opened in January 2021, and it might be the players near the bottom of that long list who provide the biggest dividend. Both outfielder Esmerlyn Valdez ($130,000) and Kelly ($100,000) were added to the 40-man roster this past offseason. A native of Aruba, Kelly didn’t gain much traction in the early going, throwing a grand total of 173 innings and not getting past Single-A Bradenton through the 2024 season. An big uptick in velocity and overall stuff enabled him to go from High-A Greensboro to Double-A Altoona, top 100 innings for the first time and lead the organization in a host of pitching categories.
While he’s undersized at 5-foot-10, Kelly is compact and strong, and that added strength has led to a much better fastball, his calling card. It now sits at around 97 mph and he can reach back for triple digits. He commands it well and it can feature some carry to it, though it doesn’t miss a ton of bats. His upper-80s changeup was effective, but he would drop his slot to throw it at times, so he worked on a new split change during the offseason. In early camp this offseason, it was nasty, coming from the same tunnel as the heater. In the past, he threw an upper-80s gyro-type slider as well as a cutter, but the latter pitch has been shelved so he can focus on sharpening the former.
Kelly repeats his simple delivery well and threw a ton of strikes overall in 2025, showing no ill effects from the stuff spike. Turning his slider into a true out pitch is the key to the development that will get him to the big leagues, something that could happen as early as this season.
