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The Reds have chosen the contract of right-hander Casey Kelly, per a membership announcement. Proper-hander Alan Busenitz was designated for task to make room for Kelly on the membership’s 40-man and energetic rosters.
Kelly, 34, was a first-round choose within the 2008 draft and a consensus top-100 prospect early in his professional profession with the Pink Sox. Kelly was packaged with Anthony Rizzo within the deal that introduced Adrian Gonzalez to Boston from San Diego, and Kelly’s pedigree as a high pitching prospect helped him to succeed in the majors throughout simply his second yr within the Padres group. That large league debut left a lot to be desired, as Kelly pitched to a lackluster 6.21 ERA in 29 innings of labor throughout six begins with the Padres through the 2012 season. Tommy John surgical procedure worn out Kelly’s complete 2013 season, and he wouldn’t make it again to the majors till 2015 when he surrendered 13 runs (10 earned) in simply 11 1/3 innings of labor throughout three appearances.
That ended Kelly’s Padres tenure, and whereas he briefly discovered a task with the Braves as a multi-inning reliever through the 2016 season, he wouldn’t discover success within the majors till 2018, six years after his large league debut. In San Francisco, Kelly did fairly nicely whereas swinging between the rotation and bullpen, however even that success was short-lived as his 3.04 ERA spanned simply seven appearances and 23 2/3 innings of labor. Kelly’s transient stint with the Giants evidently earned him some consideration abroad, nevertheless, as after parting methods with the Giants he went on to pitch in components of six seasons for the Korea Baseball Group’s LG Twins.
In Korea, Kelly was a rotation stalwart who made between 27 and 30 begins every year from 2019 to 2023 whereas by no means posting an ERA greater than 3.83. Kelly reportedly obtained some stateside curiosity this previous offseason however selected to stay abroad, although his sixth season within the KBO didn’t go significantly nicely as he struggled to a 4.51 ERA in 19 begins earlier than being reduce unfastened final month. That led him again to affiliated ball, the place he signed a minor league deal with the Reds and was assigned to Triple-A Louisville. Kelly was managed by his father, Pat Kelly, whereas pitching for Louisville and carried out decently in two begins, with a 4.50 ERA regardless of a strikeout charge of simply 5.6%. Current accidents to Hunter Greene and Andrew Abbott have now opened the door for Kelly to make his first large league look since 2018, and the journeyman figures to supply Cincinnati with multi-inning aid depth out of the bullpen whereas the membership makes use of a patchwork rotation that includes Julian Aguilar and Carson Spiers alongside Nick Lodolo and Nick Martinez.
Making means for Kelly on the 40-man and energetic rosters is Busenitz, who departs the membership after making only one look within the majors this yr. In a disastrous aid outing for the Reds yesterday, the right-hander surrendered 4 runs (three of which had been earned) on 4 hits whereas failing to strike out a batter in his single inning of labor. Busenitz additionally pitched for the Reds final yr and did fairly nicely in a restricted function with a 2.57 ERA and a couple of.26 FIP throughout seven frames. Busenitz’s time with the Reds was his first style of massive league motion in practically half a decade, as he spent 4 seasons pitching for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Nippon Skilled Baseball from 2019 to 2022. The vast majority of Busenitz’s restricted large league expertise got here previous to his time abroad, when he pitched to a middling 4.58 ERA in 51 appearances throughout the 2017 and ’18 seasons in Minnesota.
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