Boston's Kelly Is a Prospect, but Is It on Mound or in Field?

ST. LOUIS – Casey Kelly pitched an inning for the U.S. team in Sunday's Futures Game, an All-Star showcase for baseball's top prospects.

And, just like that, he became a shortstop.

Kelly's unique arrangement with the Red Sox called for him to spend the first half of the minor-league season as a pitcher and then move to shortstop. Eventually, he will be one or the other, and there seems to be a slight difference of opinion between team and player.

"The determining factor is just going to be what I feel most comfortable with and whatever's going to get me to the big leagues the fastest," said Kelly, 19. "That's the main goal, is to get to the big leagues as quick and fast as possible, whatever position that might be.

"This year is kind of experimental, to see which one is going to be the best." Boston likes him better as a pitcher, perhaps to the point of pushing him for a Futures Game spot to both extend his pitching work this season by an extra week and to help convince him that his future lay on the mound.

But by letting Kelly do both, for now, the team has avoided any sort of battle.

"The Red Sox have been awesome through this whole process," he said. "I think once we get done with this season we'll kind of see what side is the best for me and the best for them."

Kelly's father, Pat, caught in three games for the 1980 Blue Jays and now is a minor-league manager wit the Reds. Coming out of high school in Sarasota, Fla., Casey had a scholarship offer from the University of Tennessee to play quarterback. But he turned that down after the Red Sox drafted him in the first round last year.

After getting a $3 million signing bonus, Kelly played only shortstop last summer. He didn't pitch between the end of his senior year at high school and this year's spring training.


As a pitcher, Kelly (6-foot-3 and 194 pounds) features a fastball that isn't overpowering but with good command and movement, along with a curve and changeup. He retired all three batters he faced Sunday on nine total pitches, hitting 93-94 mph with his fastball.

After going 6-1 with a 1.12 ERA in nine starts for low Single-A Greenville (S.C.), Kelly moved up to advanced Single-A Salem (Va.) and went 1-4 with a 3.09 ERA in eight starts. Combined, he had 74 strikeouts, just 16 walks and 65 hits allowed in 95 innings.

"They let me just kind of go out there and kind of learn for myself," he said. "I made a lot of adjustments. I felt like every outing I learned something."

Meanwhile, he took batting practice at least twice a week in preparation for the second half.

"It was weird," he said. "To sit in the dugout or sit in the stands and chart [when not pitching] and watch the team play I think was the toughest thing. I'm such a competitor and stuff, and not to be in there during the game was tough for me at first."

"To sit in the dugout or sit in the stands and chart [when not pitching] and watch the team play I think was the toughest thing."
-- Red Sox prospect Casey Kelly Kelly compared the eventual choice between pitcher and position player to the one he made a year ago between baseball and football.

"I've kind of been through it before," he said. "Everybody was like, 'How are you going to deal with this?' It [the decision] was made for me. The opportunity came by [in baseball] and I don't regret it at all."

From St. Louis he will go to Boston's spring-training complex in Fort Myers, Fla., where the Red Sox will determine where to send him for the second half.

"Aw, man, I'm really excited," he said. "To kind of have two seasons in one is really unique. So I'm excited to get back and start playing shortstop."

Kelly said it was worth delaying his move to shortstop for a week to play in the Futures Game. Just one thing was missing from his experience in St. Louis: getting to hit off one of the other phenoms.

"That would be probably the best feeling in the world, to get an at-bat today." he said. "But I'm here strictly as a pitcher today."