St. Louis Cardinals Designate Ty Kelly for Assignment
With the St. Louis Cardinals’ decision to finally pull the trigger on top prospect Stephen Piscotty before Tuesday’s game against the Chicago White Sox, they needed to open up a spot on the 40-man roster. Monday rumors indicated that the player to lose his spot could be infielder Pete Kozma, but ultimately those rumors proved to be false, as the club kept Kozma and instead designated minor-league utility player Ty Kelly for assignment.
The 27-year-old had been acquired this past offseason from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for starting pitcher Sam Gaviglio. In an unusual turn of events, Kelly was immediately added to the Cardinals’ 40-man roster despite never having played in the big leagues before.
More from St. Louis Cardinals
- St. Louis Cardinals: Randal Grichuk to begin Double-A rehab stint
- John Brebbia deserves a shot as the St. Louis Cardinals’ closer
- St. Louis Cardinals place Randal Grichuk on DL, recall José Martínez
- St. Louis Cardinals release RHP Corey Baker from organization
- St. Louis Cardinals activate Kolten Wong and Kevin Siegrist from DL, option Luke Weaver and Alex Mejia to Triple-A
Kelly had spent three previous seasons at Triple-A between the Baltimore Orioles and Mariners organizations and put up numbers that ranged between above-average and very good. However, his production completely fell off this season with the Cardinals’ Triple-A club, the Memphis Redbirds. Over 227 at-bats, Kelly hit .203/.317/.286 with two homers and 21 RBI. His best month was in June, when he hit .267/.338/.400, and he struggled rather mightily in every other month. Thus far in July, Kelly was 3-for-30 with no walks or extra-base hits.
More from Arch Authority
- St. Louis Cardinals: Randal Grichuk to begin Double-A rehab stint
- John Brebbia deserves a shot as the St. Louis Cardinals’ closer
- St. Louis Cardinals place Randal Grichuk on DL, recall José Martínez
- St. Louis Cardinals release RHP Corey Baker from organization
- St. Louis Cardinals activate Kolten Wong and Kevin Siegrist from DL, option Luke Weaver and Alex Mejia to Triple-A
His strongest value to the Cardinals was in his versatility as a defender, and he may have loomed as a replacement for Pete Kozma at the big-league level if he had hit even semi-competently at Triple-A. So far this season, Kelly had played all three outfield positions (36 games in left, 12 in center, and five in right) while also playing six games at second and 22 at third. Kelly has also seen brief action at shortstop, first base, and pitcher during his seven-year minor-league career.
As long as Kelly clears waivers, which seems likely considering his lack of Triple-A success in 2015, he can be outrighted and continue to play for Memphis. While Kelly’s odds of getting himself back into consideration for a big-league promotion in 2015 are low, he can go back and continue building his value for the future.