After 13 Major League seasons, reliever Joe Kelly has decided to call a career, as the right-hander told WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford on a recent edition (audio link) of the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast. In his usual irreverent fashion, the 37-year-old Kelly declined to say he was officially retiring, taking issue with the term itself.
“Retiring is like, something that my grandmother did….I’m sorry all you people out there watching this that work a real job. You guys deserve to retire, athletes don’t,” Kelly said. “We just stop [expletive] playing, okay? Let’s cancel the word ’retirement.’ It’s used for people who [expletive] served in the military, used for people who worked until 65…When athletes are done playing, just say ’congratulations, they’re no longer playing.’ ”
Kelly last played during the 2024 season, tossing 32 regular-season innings for the Dodgers. He didn’t sign a contract last winter, and stated last July that he was planning to showcase himself in a throwing session for the Dodgers alone, saying that he only wanted to pitch for Los Angeles if he returned at all. That session came and went without any fanfare, and Kelly told Bradford that continued injury problems convinced him to hang up the glove. “I can throw 98 [mph] like nothing…[but] I threw a pitch and like strained again, so like ’nah, I’m done,’ ” Kelly said.
High velocity has been a bedrock of Kelly’s career, as he averaged 95mph on his fastball in his MLB debut season with the Cardinals in 2012. A move to the bullpen added even more heat, as Kelly had an average velo of 98.2mph over the final eight seasons of his career, and he topped the 102mph mark at his peak. While Kelly’s fastball drew the most attention, however, his sinker (which also regularly sat in the upper 90s) and curveball were his most effective pitches at finishing off batters after Kelly set them up with his standard fastball.
A third-round pick for the Cardinals in the 2009 draft, Kelly made his MLB debut with St. Louis in 2012 and he tossed his first 266 big league innings in a Cards uniform. A notable swap at the 2014 trade deadline saw Kelly and Allen Craig sent to the Red Sox in exchange for John Lackey, and while the trade was panned by Boston fans at the time, Kelly’s development into a valued member of the Red Sox pen has made the deal a little more palatable for Red Sox Nation in hindsight.
Kelly struggled with injuries and consistency over his first two full seasons as a starter with the Sox, and a move to relief pitching in 2016 helped him at least spend less time on the injured list. Kelly had a 4.33 ERA over his entire 359 1/3 inning tenure with the Red Sox, but he shone brightest when posting a 0.79 ERA over 11 1/3 frames during the 2018 postseason, playing a big role in Boston’s World Series championship victory.
After helping beat the Dodgers in that Fall Classic, Kelly then went to L.A. on a three-year, $25MM free agent deal. Some early struggles made that signing look like a potential bust, but Kelly righted the ship and finished with a 3.59 ERA, 26.9% strikeout rate, 59.9% grounder rate, and 9.8% walk rate over 105 1/3 innings in that three-season span. The highlight was another postseason success and a ring in 2020, with Kelly allowing one earned run over 4 2/3 innings during the Dodgers’ title run.
A two-year, $17MM contract with the White Sox followed for Kelly in advance of the 2022 season, but the injuries started to really pile up, leading to a only a 5.59 ERA over 66 innings in a Chicago uniform. Acquired again by the Dodgers at the 2023 trade deadline, Kelly suddenly regained some of his old form in posting a 1.74 ERA the rest of the way. Los Angeles brought him back for a one-year, $8MM contract for the 2024 season, but Kelly’s health problems continued and he managed just a 4.78 ERA in his final 32 innings in the Show. While he wasn’t part of the Dodgers’ playoff roster, Los Angeles’ World Series victory meant that Kelly earned his third ring in what ended up as his farewell season.
Over 485 games and 839 career innings in the majors, Kelly had a 3.98 ERA, 51.8% grounder rate, 21.1% strikeout rate, and a 9.8% walk rate. His postseason resume consists of a 3.45 ERA over 60 innings, and a particularly impressive 2.03 ERA across 13 1/3 innings in the World Series.
Along the way, Kelly created quite a reputation for himself as a character. Kelly’s competitiveness sometimes led to a pair of high-profile suspensions, but his willingness to defend teammates only added to the fuel of the rivalries between the Red Sox and Yankees, and the sign-stealing scandal inspired feud between the Dodgers and Astros. Between his big fastball, erratic control, and eccentric personality, Kelly welcomed all comparisons to “Wild Thing” Rick Vaughn, to the point of wearing #99 with the Dodgers after giving his #17 jersey to the incoming Shohei Ohtani. (This gesture resulted in Ohtani gifting a Porsche to Kelly’s wife Ashley.)
We at MLBTR congratulate Kelly on a fine career, and we wish him all the best in retir….er, his post-playing endeavors.