Joe Kelly is on the Injured List, and I have yet to see a timetable for his return. The whole thing’s kind of mysterious—all it’s been described as has been a “sore arm.” If you’ll recall 2019, Kelly had a similarly vague ailment heading into the playoffs that year. I don’t follow the Dodgers at large closely enough to know if this is a normal handling of pitcher injuries, or if there’s something specific to our guy, but hopefully it’s just some arm fatigue and he’ll be fine.
I’m not here to speculate about Joe Kelly’s overall health, though. I’m here to start conspiracy theories about the real reason for his absence.
I think I’ve gone over a few of these before, but this one is new, at least to me (if I’ve shared it before, I guess my brain’s got whatever Joe Kelly’s arm has).
What if the Dodgers are holding Joe Kelly back because he’s learning to throw even harder?
For most pitchers, spring training would be enough to ramp up to their piddly mid-90’s selves. But what if Joe Kelly’s about to throw 120 mph? 140 mph? 343 meters per second?
If that’s the case, one would imagine it would take a lot longer to get Kelly into game shape.
Keep an eye out for it.
