Biographical

Portrait of Carson Kelly

Carson Kelly C  

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2019 Projections (Preseason PECOTA - seasonal age 24)
PA AVG HR R RBI SB DRC+ WARP
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Birth Date7-14-1994
Height6' 2"
Weight212 lbs
Age30 years, 5 months, 9 days
BatsR
ThrowsR
2015
-0.02016
0.52017
-0.02018
1.62019
proj
WARP Summary

MLB Statistics

YEAR TEAM AGE G PA H 2B 3B HR BB SO HBP SB CS AVG OBP SLG DRC+ DRAA BRR FRAA BWARP
2016 SLN 21 10 14 2 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 .154 .214 .231 76 -0.4 -0.2 -0.1 0.0
2017 SLN 22 34 75 12 3 0 0 5 11 1 0 0 .174 .240 .217 73 -2.3 0.7 3.0 0.5
2018 SLN 23 19 42 4 0 0 0 3 7 1 0 0 .114 .205 .114 74 -1.2 -0.2 -0.9 0.0
2019 ARI 24 111 365 77 19 0 18 48 79 2 0 0 .245 .348 .478 115 9.0 -1.2 -0.2 2.5
Career17449695230185699500.220.316.3991045.2-0.81.82.9

Statistics for All Levels

'opp' stats - Quality of opponents faced - have been moved and are available only as OPP_QUAL in the Statistics reports now.
Minor league stats are currently shown —Click to hide.
YEAR Team Lg LG G PA oppAVG oppOBP oppSLG BABIP BPF BRAA repLVL POS_ADJ DRC+ DRC+ SD FRAA BRR DRAA BWARP
2012 JCY Rk APP 56 225 .245 .317 .364 .228 113 -8.7 7.0 0.3 75 0 -6.9 -0.9 -5.6 -0.6
2013 PEO A MID 43 168 .248 .322 .362 .248 105 -3.4 4.7 -0.5 78 0 -4.6 0.2 -5.8 -0.6
2013 SCO A- NYP 70 299 .254 .322 .360 .301 111 0.1 7.6 0.7 116 0 -8.5 -0.9 -2.2 -0.4
2014 PEO A MID 98 415 .249 .317 .366 .274 92 1.8 11.8 4.3 106 0 -0.7 -2.2 -3.5 1.0
2015 PMB A+ FSL 108 419 .245 .308 .329 .239 94 -14.6 11.3 6.4 78 0 1.3 -1.0 -17.4 0.1
2016 SLN MLB NL 10 14 .264 .344 .415 .182 100 -0.8 0.4 0.2 76 10 -0.1 -0.2 -0.4 0.0
2016 SFD AA TEX 64 236 .247 .309 .374 .339 94 6.3 6.4 3.6 119 0 7.6 -0.9 0.1 1.8
2016 MEM AAA PCL 32 126 .263 .324 .402 .340 93 0.6 3.5 2.2 115 0 2.4 -0.1 0.1 0.8
2016 GDD Wnt AFL 21 94 .000 .000 .000 .264 0.0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
2017 SLN MLB NL 34 75 .240 .315 .407 .207 94 -8.1 2.2 1.1 73 9 3.0 0.7 -2.3 0.5
2017 MEM AAA PCL 68 280 .270 .337 .426 .304 93 10.7 8.3 5 127 0 10.8 -1.9 10.3 3.2
2018 SLN MLB NL 19 42 .246 .309 .400 .143 94 -4.9 1.2 0.7 74 8 -0.9 -0.2 -1.2 0.0
2018 MEM AAA PCL 83 349 .273 .343 .423 .299 92 8.8 10.2 6.2 112 0 10.1 -0.6 6.4 3.3
2019 ARI MLB NL 111 365 .248 .318 .424 .271 101 5.4 11.0 6.4 115 9 -0.2 -1.2 9.0 2.5

Statistics For All Levels

Minor league stats are currently shown —Click to hide.
Year Team lvl LG PA AB R H 2B 3B HR TB RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG ISO SF SH
2012 JCY Rk APP 225 213 24 48 10 0 9 85 25 10 33 0 0 .225 .263 .399 .174 0 1
2013 PEO A MID 168 146 18 32 6 0 2 44 13 13 25 0 0 .219 .288 .301 .082 2 5
2013 SCO A- NYP 299 271 35 75 16 1 4 105 32 20 31 1 0 .277 .340 .387 .111 0 2
2014 PEO A MID 415 363 41 90 17 4 6 133 49 37 54 1 0 .248 .326 .366 .118 4
2015 PMB A+ FSL 419 389 30 85 18 1 8 129 51 22 64 0 0 .219 .263 .332 .113 5 0
2016 SFD AA TEX 236 216 29 62 7 0 6 87 18 14 46 0 1 .287 .338 .403 .116 1 2
2016 GDD Wnt AFL 94 77 12 22 4 0 3 35 18 13 4 2 0 .286 .387 .455 .169 2 1
2016 SLN MLB NL 14 13 1 2 1 0 0 3 1 0 2 0 0 .154 .214 .231 .077 0 0
2016 MEM AAA PCL 126 113 14 33 10 0 0 43 14 11 17 0 0 .292 .352 .381 .088 1 1
2017 MEM AAA PCL 280 244 37 69 13 0 10 112 41 33 40 0 2 .283 .375 .459 .176 0 0
2017 SLN MLB NL 75 69 5 12 3 0 0 15 6 5 11 0 0 .174 .240 .217 .043 0 0
2018 MEM AAA PCL 349 294 38 79 14 1 7 116 41 48 48 0 0 .269 .378 .395 .126 2 0
2018 SLN MLB NL 42 35 1 4 0 0 0 4 3 3 7 0 0 .114 .205 .114 .000 0 3
2019 ARI MLB NL 365 314 46 77 19 0 18 150 47 48 79 0 0 .245 .348 .478 .232 1 0

Plate Discipline

YEAR Pits Zone% Swing% Contact% Z-Swing% O-Swing% Z-Contact% O-Contact% SwStr% CSAA
2016 43 0.5349 0.4651 0.7500 0.6957 0.2000 0.7500 0.7500 0.2500 0.0000
2017 284 0.4542 0.4120 0.8376 0.6124 0.2452 0.8987 0.7105 0.1624 0.0000
2018 157 0.5732 0.4268 0.7910 0.6111 0.1791 0.8364 0.5833 0.2090 0.0000
2019 1564 0.4808 0.4182 0.7676 0.5997 0.2500 0.8470 0.5911 0.2324 0.0000
Career20480.48530.41900.77870.60440.24280.85130.61040.22130.0000

Injury History  —  No longer being updated

Last Update: 12/31/2014 23:59 ET

Date On Date Off Transaction Days Games Side Body Part Injury Severity Surgery Date Reaggravation

Compensation

Year Team Salary
2024 DET $3,500,000
2023 ARI $4,275,000
2022 ARI $3,325,000
2021 ARI $1,700,000
2020 ARI $581,700
2019 ARI $560,000
2018 SLN $
2017 SLN $
2016 SLN $
YearsDescriptionSalary
5 yrPrevious$10,441,700
2019Current$3,500,000
6 yrPvs + Cur$13,941,700
6 yrTotal$13,941,700

 

Service TimeAgentContract Status
5 y 161 dCAA1 year (2023), 2024 option

Details
  • 1 year/$4.275M (2023). Re-signed by Arizona 1/13/23 (avoided arbitration). DFA by Arizona 8/13/23. Released 8/15/23. Signed by Detroit as a free agent 8/19/23. 1 year (2023), plus 2024 club option at $3.5M. 2024 performance bonuses: $125,000 for each 95, 100, 105, 110 games as catcher.
  • 1 year/$3.35M (2022). Re-signed by Arizona 3/22/22 (avoided arbitration).
  • 1 year/$1.7M (2021). Re-signed by Arizona 1/15/21 (avoided arbitration).
  • 1 year/$581,700 (2020). Re-signed by Arizona 3/20.
  • 1 year/$560,000 (2019). Re-signed by Arizona 3/19.
  • 1 year (2018). Re-signed by St. Louis 3/18. Acquired by Arizona in trade from St. Louis 12/5/18.
  • 1 year (2017). Re-signed by St. Louis 3/17.
  • 1 year (2016). Contract selected by St. Louis 9/4/16.
  • Drafted by St. Louis 2012 (2-86) (Westview HS, Portland, Ore.). $1.6M signing bonus ($574,300 slot).

2019 Preseason Forecast

Last Update: 1/27/2017 12:35 ET

PCT PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG DRC+ VORP FRAA WARP
90o 60 15 3 0 2 6 10 0 0 .288 .373 .462 120 0.0 C 0 0.0
80o 39 10 2 0 1 4 7 0 0 .286 .359 .429 112 0.0 C 0 0.0
70o 25 6 1 0 1 2 5 0 0 .273 .333 .455 107 0.0 C 0 0.0
60o 13 3 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 .273 .333 .364 102 0.0 C 0 0.0
50o 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 97 0.0 C 0 0.0
Weighted Mean410000100.250.250.250990.0C 00.0

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BP Annual Player Comments

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BP Articles

Click here to see articles tagged with Carson Kelly

BP Chats

DateQuestionAnswer
2021-04-28 13:00:00 (link to chat)How much stock are we putting into the changes around Carson Kelly? Obviously some of this looks real, but is he better than, say, Christian Vazquez ROS?
(FearAndLoathing from Bogota, Colombia)		I put a fair amount of stock into Kelly right now. He will not continue to hit fly balls 50% of the time, nor have a .313 BABIP while hitting that many fly balls. Some of that is good fortune. But he's also upped his average exit velo by 3 mph, and his launch angle by 4 degrees (and it was already a career high). Vazquez has had some poor luck (that IFFB% is way too high), but I'd take Kelly over Vazquez ROS. (Craig Goldstein)
2020-04-10 13:00:00 (link to chat)Is Daulton Varsho more of a high end super utility type more than an everyday player or will his bat push him into an everyday player somewhere? Part II - if he loses catcher eligibility how valuable of a prospect does he become? Thanks.
(CubbieBear from Chi-Town)		I think Varsho hits enough for an everyday role, whether at catcher or in the outfield. Late in 2019, he began seeing time in center field. Given the presence of Carson Kelly and Varsho's so-so defense and arm strength behind the dish, Varsho very well may be destined for the outfield.

If Varsho becomes an everyday outfielder, losing catcher eligibility in the process, he likely retains much of the same fantasy value. Catcher eligibility benefits fringe fantasy performers more than superb hitters. A player like Varsho would receive less plate appearance and likely run less as a catcher. In addition, he likely would produce less per plate appearance simply due to the physical strain of catching. Meanwhile, in the outfield, he should be healthier, more spry, and have a better shot at making good on his 20/20 offensive potential. As such, I am less concerned about a player like Varsho losing catcher eligibility, than, say, Zach Collins.

The realistic ideal scenario is Varsho plays close to everyday in left field with enough starts at catcher (3rd stringer likely) to retain eligibility there year-to-year, or at least gain eligibility in-season. He could conceivably be that rare, super-valuable catcher-eligible position player who plays 6 times/week. At the same time, he would not suffer the same wear-and-tear that catching a ton of games has on a player. Consquently, Varsho likely will run more, perform better, and provide potentially massive fantasy value. (Jesse Roche)
2019-08-16 12:00:00 (link to chat)Did you ever envision Carson Kelly being this good? Since May 4th when he hit his first career home run, he's hitting .293/.400/.630 with a 14.9% walk rate and 17 home runs! Do you think he can maintain this pace?
(CuccumberParty from Phoenix)		I did not, probably because he won't be this good forever. But he added more pop and he's hitting the right baseballs to be a 20+ home run dude even if he comes back down to earth. (Jeffrey Paternostro)
2019-08-08 15:00:00 (link to chat)Surprised by the type of hitting season Carson Kelly has had? Can he be a .260 and 20 HR type hitting catcher?
(Craig from Chicago)		Yes, and yes. (Craig Goldstein)
2018-12-12 17:00:00 (link to chat)Is there any hope for Carson Kelly? I'm excited about the trade
(Keith from Everglades)		He's going to play. I see him as a power potential/low AVG guy this year. (Mike Gianella)
2018-04-10 13:00:00 (link to chat)Do you see productive MLB careers behind the dish for Daulton Varsho and Carson Kelly? Preference and why?
(GBdontgivea%&^$ from Wisconsin)		Varsho seems to profile as a much better bat, but he allegedly has a weak arm. Kelly seems to have the arm to stay behind the plate, but his bat is weaker. My guess is that Varsho gets moved to somewhere else. So if you definitely need a catcher, Kelly is your guy, but Varsho's bat is my preference. (Kevin Jebens)
2017-11-17 13:00:00 (link to chat)Provided Stanton is agreeable to the trade and Miami will eat a portion of his contract, would a package of Flaherty, Carson Kelly and Bader bring him to St. Louis?
(Donthelegend from St. Louis)		I appear to be one of the few people who doesn't get why Miami would eat money here. Every team can afford Stanton, he's a huge difference maker, and there isn't anything close to him on the FA market. I like JD Martinez, but those are old player skills and he's close to being a first baseman. All that said, it's not a bad package. I'd assume Miami'd want a bigger headliner though, just because they need to sell the deal to the fans when you are trading an MVP and franchise star. A good glove-first catcher and a potential #3 starter don't really make for a great movie poster. (Jeffrey Paternostro)
2017-05-04 13:00:00 (link to chat)I understand that switching positions isn't easy, but why don't more teams turn athletic kids into catchers? The position has become more about defense than offense, so why not give it a shot?
(Joe from Minnesota)		You need player buy-in, and it is a taxing position. Also there are plenty of other places to play your "athletic" guys. Catchers tend to be of a certain type, which is why the converts tend to be built more like Carson Kelly. (Jeffrey Paternostro)
2017-02-14 12:00:00 (link to chat)So the Top 101 was made in early January. Any prospects you'd move up/down by 10+ spots today?
(Eddie from Orlando)		I said to Craig that there were seven rankings I hated shortly after submitting it. It's closer to a dozen now. The ones bothering me the most currently is I'd have Carson Kelly and AJ Puk higher and Ian Happ and Nick Williams lower. This might change in another two weeks of course. (The Top 101 Prospect Chat with Jeffrey Paternostro)
2015-02-18 19:00:00 (link to chat)This is Carson Kelly's 2nd season st catcher. Assuming the Cardinals promote him to Palm Beach, what can Cardinals fans expect from him at the plate? Is he a guy we can see on top 100 prospect lists next season?
(shahekee from Urbana, IL)		I think Kelly is a slow mover, particularly with the transition from third base. I don't think he's a top 100 guy in 2016. (Brendan Gawlowski)
2014-12-18 15:00:00 (link to chat)Speaking of Molinas, Yadier M was starting to show some wear and tear this past year, and he won't last forever. Any ideas what the Cardinals do to prepare for a post-Molina future? There isn't much catching talent in their farm system, as far as I can see.
(Bill from New Mexico)		I don't know that they have to address it. Lining up future options isn't always the best use of your assets. Impact catchers are hard to find, but you can live with a fair number of guys behind the plate, especially if you truly value defense. Carson Kelly converted from 3B to catcher and while the numbers aren't eyepopping, scouts tend to like him a little bit. They'll probably cross that bridge when they get closer to it, if not when they come to it. (Craig Goldstein)
2014-11-04 18:00:00 (link to chat)Any info on the Cardinals' attempts to develop an in-house catching backup for Yadier Molina who's better than Tony Cruz (which isn't a very high bar)? Does Carson Kelly have a realistic chance of becoming adequate? Are there others I don't know about? Yadi isn't going to last forever...
(Bill from New Mexico)		I do think Kelly has some potential to help at the MLB level, but it could still take a while for him to get there. I've heard encouraging reports on the early progress he's made behind the plate, and I there is hope for the bat. Kelly may arrive in time to help the transition from Molina, but I'm not sure he's going to be ready in time to be a viable backup instead of Cruz in the short term. (Mark Anderson)
2014-05-13 11:00:00 (link to chat)Do you think Carson Kelly can develop into a major league regular at catcher?
(Tony from Work)		Absolutely, I really like that kid. (Jason Parks)
2014-02-10 13:00:00 (link to chat)What is your talk on Carson Kelly one of the 18 NRI for STL? What is his ceiling? Where do you see him ending up this year?
(Bwilkins10 from Portland)		The Cardinals are moving him behind the plate, so there's a process that needs to unfold there. I'll get a good look at his progress behind the plate in the next month, as Jupiter is the closest park to where I live. Heard great things about his makeup, so that bodes well for making the transition. (Jeff Moore)
2013-01-02 13:00:00 (link to chat)Which of the young prep 3B from the 2012 draft do you like more, Carson Kelly or Rio Ruiz?
(McLuvin from Honolulu, HI)		Both have some warts as corner profiles, but give me Ruiz (assuming future health) due to the chance for a slightly better glove. (Nick Faleris)


BP Roundtables

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Advanced Catching Metrics

Year lvl CSAA Framing Runs Blocking Chances EPAA Blocking Runs SB Attempts SRAA TRAA Throwing Runs FRAA Adj. FRAA
2014 afx .000 0.0 3610 .001 -0.5 103 -.005 -.002 0.3 -0.8 -0.7
2015 afa .000 0.0 4286 -.001 1.3 78 -.011 -.012 0.9 2.0 1.3
2016 aax .014 8.5 0 .000 0.0 54 -.002 -.011 0.4 8.1 7.6
2016 mlb -.006 -0.2 123 -.006 0.2 0 .000 -.003 0.0 0.2 -0.1
2016 aaa .007 2.6 0 .000 0.0 22 .007 .000 -0.1 2.2 2.4
2017 aaa .015 11.5 2724 -.001 1.2 42 .009 -.002 -0.1 12.2 10.8
2017 mlb .015 2.5 719 -.002 0.4 10 -.020 -.005 0.1 3.2 3.0
2018 mlb -.007 -0.8 470 .002 -0.3 4 -.002 .000 0.0 -1.1 -0.9
2018 aaa .009 9.0 1103 -.001 0.5 45 -.009 -.009 0.7 9.9 10.1
2019 mlb -.001 -0.9 3891 -.002 2.6 35 -.014 -.003 0.3 1.9 -0.2

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PITCHf/x Hitter Profile

A Collaboration between BrooksBaseball.net and Baseball Prospectus - Pitch classifications provided by Pitch Info LLC