First off, great news: Joe Kelly is healthy, wealthy, and wise. We knew those latter two already, so the first one’s the big one. He pitched again last night. Pitched well. Was only hitting 99, so the hamstring might not be one hundred percent, but 1-2-3 inning capped with a strikeout. We’ll take that.
Second off, trade talk. It’s a little surprising Joe Kelly’s as healthy as he is, considering the Dodgers gave up a lot getting Max Scherzer as insurance for our guy, the pitcher, and Trea Turner as insurance for our guy, the speedster on the basepaths. I thought Joe Kelly might be dying when the trade news started coming out, but turns out you just can’t have too much depth. Good for those guys, getting to play with Joe Kelly now.
Third off, let’s check in on the season stats as July comes to an end:
27.0 IP
3.33 ERA
3.16 xERA
2.86 FIP
0.4 fWAR
That’s Kelly’s best season in Los Angeles, and if maintained it’ll be his best season as a reliever, with his best overall season a 4.82 ERA, 4.62 xERA, 4.18 FIP campaign as a Red Sox starter in 2015, when he threw 134.1 innings and accumulated 1.2 fWAR. Really great stuff. Best walk rate of his career. Near the best strikeout rate of his career. At 33, too. Aging gracefully.
We’ll keep an eye on the hamstring, but for the time being, Joe Kelly is rocking, and Joe Kelly is rolling. May it always be so.
