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How Detroit Tigers catcher Carson Kelly went from released to reliable in one year
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- How Detroit Tigers catcher Carson Kelly went from released to reliable in one year
It happened Aug. 15, 2023.
That's the day the Arizona Diamondbacks released catcher Carson Kelly .
Four days later, the Detroit Tigers signed Kelly to a one-year contract for the remainder of the 2023 season with a $3.5 million club option for the 2024 season , which the Tigers picked up in early November in hopes of benefitting from several offseason adjustments.
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"It's all happened pretty quick," Kelly said last August, before his first game with the Tigers, "but I'm grateful for the opportunity and look forward to getting to know the guys."
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Detroit Tigers catcher Carson Kelly (15) gets ready to take the field against Cleveland Guardians for the first inning at Comerica Park in Detroit on Thursday, July 11, 2024.
The Tigers, led by president of baseball operations Scott Harris, identified Kelly as a player they could help get better, designed a player plan for him to improve on offense and defense and guided him to the finish line. The 30-year-old, a nine-year MLB veteran, evolved from a released catcher to a reliable one in less than a year.
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It was a successful project by the Tigers.
"I feel like it means my best years are still yet to come," said Kelly, whose right forearm fracture derailed his production last season. "I've been at rock bottom pretty bad, right? Breaking bones, not having the performance that I want, and then building myself back up, I feel like I'm still getting better, and that's something I'm really proud of."
In 2024, Kelly is hitting .239 with seven home runs, 16 walks and 39 strikeouts across 58 games. Behind the plate, Kelly is the personal catcher for right-hander Jack Flaherty , who owns an elite 2.82 ERA in their 16 starts together.
The Tigers, though, are shopping Kelly ahead of Tuesday's trade deadline because he is playing on an expiring contract. If Kelly gets traded, the Tigers will promote Dillon Dingler — a 25-year-old prospect who is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster — for his MLB debut.
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Regardless of what happens, Kelly has extended his MLB career because the changes he made in the offseason led to his above-average performance in the 2024 season.
When the Tigers signed Kelly, they wanted him to clean up his receiving on defense and boost his hard contact in the air on offense, so they instructed him to switch to a one-knee setup behind the plate and change his bat path at the plate.
"It was very much an experimental offseason," Kelly said.
Kelly, who trains at EForce Sports and The Yard Baseball Academy in Beaverton, Oregon, said the biggest keys were bat speed and time to contact. He doesn't have the fastest swing, but he sped up his time to contact by lowering his hands in front of his chest as part of his mechanics.
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The change created a more adjustable swing, allowed the barrel of the bat get to the ball quicker than ever before and provided him more time to decide whether or not to swing.
"Everybody came together to work on a plan," Kelly said. "My workouts for hitting were front-side stuff, using my core, working on bat speed, working on different positions to find out I'm stronger if my hands are lower, posture tilting. There's so many different aspects."
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Kelly didn't want to leave any stone unturned, so he traveled to The Baseball Performance Lab , powered by Marucci Sports , in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
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He went there with his younger brother, Parker Kelly , to get a bat customized for his new swing.
"He's a thinker," said Parker, who played baseball in college at Oregon and in the minor leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals . "He writes a lot of things down. It's something our dad instilled in us, taking notes, writing things down and being able to have things to go back and look at. The offseason was super fun. It started with going down to Marucci."
The Kelly brothers, who had been fitted for golf clubs in the past, stepped on the plane Nov. 20 in Portland, Oregon, and landed in Baton Rouge that night, picking up a rental car. They spent four hours at Marucci headquarters in the morning of Nov. 21 and returned home to Oregon by that evening.
A lot happened in those four hours.
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"He comes back with a bat that's fit for his swing," Parker said. "We walked away with two different options that he really liked that are supposed to fit his swing and what he's doing. He had a model that he'd never really swung before, and he's stuck with it."
For the past three offseasons, several MLB players — most notably 2022 National League MVP Paul Goldschmidt and eight-time All-Star Nolan Arenado — have traveled to the lab to be fitted for customized bats.
The bats are created with swing data obtained by a dozen sensors connected to the body.
The lab features top technology.
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"That was a huge trip for us," Parker said. "He was the test dummy. He got all the sensors on and got that super advanced look. How's your bat lagging? How are your hips moving? What's your power in this side? How strong is your left hand? How strong is your right hand? There's so many different things they captured."
Detroit Tigers catcher Carson Kelly (15) hits a grand slam against the Minnesota Twins during the third inning at Target Field in Minneapolis on Wednesday, July 3, 2024.
It wasn't just The Baseball Performance Lab at Marucci Sports.
Kelly also credits Tigers hitting coaches Michael Brdar and Keith Beauregard and Tigers performance coach Shane Wallen . There were also several key members of the offseason team, which he describes as his inner circle — namely Parker, physical trainer Kent Morimatsu , performance coach Stephen Dempsey and personal hitting coach Kory Casto .
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But Kelly deserves more credit than anyone else.
He put in the work.
"And then you go to spring training," Kelly said. "You're like, I'm going to trust it. I'm going to trust all my work, regardless of the results early on. Early on, the results were good. When you have a little bit of a lull, you have to trust it again and stay the course, and then you come out of those, and it gets a little bit better. Just continue to trust the work."
Not only did Kelly improve his offense, he improved his defense by switching to a one-knee setup. He has always thrown out runners with his strong arm, but when he changed his setup, he took his receiving to the next level.
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"A lot of conversation when he got here was about his defense, going to one knee and just trying to become a solid defensive catcher," manager A.J. Hinch said. "Maybe what's been undersold is the offensive adjustments that he was able to make over the winter. He's a real offensive threat."
For a few days last August, Kelly wasn't a member of a professional baseball team.
He had been released by the Diamondbacks.
Everything changed when the Tigers signed him and outlined a plan for him to revive his career.
"His willingness to adapt and commitment level finally matched up," Parker said. "We got some good data, we got a plan, and he got a new opportunity, and obviously, Detroit was a big part in that. He came back super jazzed for the offseason. He felt like he got a fresh start with something that was super exciting."
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Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold .
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers catcher Carson Kelly went from released to reliable
