Atlanta Braves Call Up Pitcher Ryan Kelly, Send Sugar Ray Marimon To Gwinnett
By Jeff Schafer
The Atlanta Braves announced on Twitter on Sunday morning that the Braves have selected Ryan Kelly‘s contract from the Gwinnett Braves and Sugar Ray Marimon was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett.
Roster move (1/2): RHP Ryan Kelly had his contract selected today from @GwinnettBraves His first appearance will be his Major League debut.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 28, 2015
Roster move (2/2): To make room on the roster, RHP Sugar Ray Marimon was optioned to @GwinnettBraves
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 28, 2015
WHO IS RYAN KELLY??
The Braves signed Kelly as a minor league free agent before the 2014 season. The Hilton Head, SC native moved up two levels last season (A+ Lynchburg and AA Mississippi). He began the 2015 season with the Mississippi Braves, but after a very solid start to the season, he was promoted to Triple-A Gwinnett.
The 27-year-old had posted a 0.48 ERA, 1.018 WHIP, and a 18/6 K/BB ratio in 18.2 innings pitched with Mississippi. He’s acted as Mississippi’s closer and picked up 10 saves before his promotion to Gwinnett.
With the Gwinnett Braves he had a 2.13 ERA, 1.184 WHIP, and a 9/6 K/BB ratio in 12.2 innings. Kelly had five saves with the GBraves before his promotion to the big leagues on Sunday.
Kelly has never appeared in a MLB game and will possibly make his debut on Sunday in Pittsburg.
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He is not overly intimidating on the mound, Baseball-Reference lists him at 6’2″, 180. Our own Ben Chase has viewed many of the games he’s pitched and says “he’s probably more like 200, he’s still quite lean and not a guy who stands tall to intimidate hitters.”
Kelly works with a fastball/slider combination and his stuff moves well horizontally, but it doesn’t move a ton vertically. Kelly sits low-to mid-80s with his slider and low 90s with his fastball, so there’s not a ton of speed variance to a hitter’s eye. His fastball however does have some cut/sink to it as it moves slightly down and in on a right-handed hitter. His slider has a little more break, moving down and toward the left-handed batter’s box.
Kelly works low in the zone, but very close to the zone, and his walk rates reflect this. He gets weak contact on the ground, which could be huge with the infield defense in Atlanta. With the lack of vertical break and velocity differential, Kelly isn’t a guy who really gets a ton of strikeouts, but he doesn’t hurt himself. In a discussion with Ben and Fred, he used Peter Moylan as a comparable pitcher, though Kelly is a bit more effective to lefties.
WHAT DOES THIS MOVE MEAN?
Kelly is not (right now) a part of the 40-man roster
@jeffwieber No. Just an option move
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) June 28, 2015
This move could just be to add an extra arm in the bullpen that’s not Sugar Ray. Since Williams Perez is now officially on the 15-day disabled list, the Braves will need to add another starter…insert Manny Banuelos?
Banuelos last pitched on Saturday for the Gwinnett Braves so with the off day on Monday for the Braves, he could be in line to pitch on Thursday (right in time) against the Nationals.