D-backs righty Merrill Kelly is on the mend after undergoing thoracic outlet surgery and tells Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that to this point, the rehab process has been “way easier than I could have ever imagined.” Kelly expects to begin a throwing program later this month and struck a generally upbeat chord when discussing his future and his recovery process.
Thoracic outlet surgery has been a dagger to many careers in recent years, as the track record of successful returns from TOS is considerably smaller than with other major procedures like Tommy John surgery. That said, there have been some notable success stories, including Chris Young and Jaime Garcia. Tyson Ross had a nice 2018 campaign after 2016 TOS, and Royals righty Kyle Zimmer, who also had TOS surgery a few years ago, posted what looked like a breakout campaign in 2020.
The D-backs picked up a $4.25MM club option on Kelly for the 2021 season and hold a $5.25MM option on him for the 2022 campaign. Since coming over from the KBO following the 2018 season, Kelly has a 4.15 ERA with 7.8 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9 in 214 2/3 innings (37 starts).
A few more notes from around the league…
- The Angels’ search for a general manager is down “to no more than three candidates,” though the names aren’t known, Jon Morosi of MLB.com tweets. That’s a significant drop-off for a team that has reportedly considered 14 candidates to replace the fired Billy Eppler. The Angels figure to complete a new round of interviews by the end of next week and should have a GM by Thanksgiving, according to Morosi.
- More from Morosi, who reports (on Twitter) that the Royals have shown interest in free-agent righty Matt Shoemaker. They join the previously reported Red Sox in that regard. Injuries have limited Shoemaker during his Angels/Blue Jays career, which began in 2013, but he has been pretty effective when healthy enough to pitch. Shoemaker owns a 3.86 ERA/4.03 FIP with 8.07 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in 602 1/3 innings.
- Left-hander Garrett Crochet gave the White Sox a scare when he was pulled from a postseason game following a velocity dip and subsequently diagnosed with a flexor strain. However, the 2020 first-rounder tells MLB.com’s Scott Merkin that he’s now pain-free after some down time and, after a recent wave of tests, is set up to commence an offseason throwing program at his new home in Arizona. The organization hasn’t yet set a role for the flamethrower, but Crochet adds that he’s comfortable working as a starter or reliever and is merely focused on gaining more pro experience in 2021. The 21-year-old Crochet skyrocketed from the University of Tennessee to the Majors in a span of a couple months, holding opponents scoreless through 6 2/3 innings — postseason and regular season combined — and whiffing 10 of the 24 batters he faced.
Hurry up Angels,almost time to sign free agents.
Don’t hold your breath for Arte to get any good pitching
They are waiting for LaRussa to be available.
Awesome rise for Crochet, seeing a player go from college to pitching in the postseason in a matter of months is outstanding and not all that common.
Hopefully he can keep it up, and find himself a home on that Sox pitching staff. Regardless of his role mov9ng forward though, I’m sure the Sox have to be stoked with the early returns on their 2020 first rounder..
Just like Chris Sale did and look how he turned out!
I’m happy no TJ for Crochet!
Brandon Finnegan is the only player to pitch in the College World Series and World Series in the same year. 2014 TCU and Kansas City.
Walker Buehler pitched for Vanderbilt in the 2014 CWS and has pitched in two WS’s for the dodgers.
Congrats. Now good back to where I said in the SAME YEAR.
That’s actually a pretty cool little trivia fact, thank you Jim Tom..
I love little known baseball tidbits like that..I mean I’m no Tim Kirkjan, but they’re still always welcome..lol
If asked, I probably would have guessed David Price, incorrectly of course..lol
Cool fact, Jim. Would’ve thought there would be at least a couple more than that.
I’m very happy with the early returns, but it hasn’t even been 7 innings yet. I think his ultimate role may be as a closer or high-leverage reliever, but I guess we’ll see. One thing I liked is that in his (incredibly brief) playoff debut, he didn’t seem fazed at all by the situation. That bodes well whatever role he earns.
Shoemaker wouldn’t be a bad pickup if he could stay healthy
I’m a big Shoemaker fan, but the poor guy just can’t stay healthy. He has had some really bad luck health-wise. Good luck, Matt.
Yeah, he has continuously shown alot of promise, he and Garret Richards both, but the pitching injury bug loves biting those Angels..
Unfortunately, that’s the case seemingly everytime they get a good, young and talented pitcher..Idk, I’m a Braves fan, so I dont follownthe angels very closely, but it sure seems that way from afar..
I hope the Red Sox do not sign him or if they do it would need to be really cheap price so they can sign multiple pitchers as they do not need another pitcher with health issue like Sale, Rodriguez, Eovaldi.
Don’t worry. Shoemaker’s health issues are completely different.
Shoemaker was a good pitcher looking to be a great pitcher. I do believe he’d be a good one to take a chance on.
Being hit in the head by a 100 mph line drive is not a “health issue”.
He had a deformity of the nerves in his arm which went undiagnosed for his lifetime up until a few years ago.
Otherwise, no UCL surgery or anything like that. He should be a buy low candidate.
Thoracic surgery has a terrible track record athlete wise, good luck to Kelly!
Just curious… who are some pitchers that didn’t recover well from TOS?
Matt Harvey comes to mind. Blown elbow and shoulder. What could have been…
Matt Harvey
Luke Hochevar. He ended up just retiring instead of being able to come back to the Royals for one more season.
I didn’t realize how good of a season Zimmer had. You always like to see guys like him succeed. Pitched 23 innings, had a 1.57 ERA, 2.36 FIP and 1.043 WHIP, struck out 26 batters and gave up no home runs.
Moreno is a tool
Minasian is the new GM and one of his major attributes has been scouting. If they don’t sign Bauer, a combo of Gausman, Odorizzi, and Mike Minor would still greatly improve the Angels rotation issues. I realize they have some young guys in Barria who really deserves a shot, Sandoval, Yan and Deitmers. However, they need to win now and the aforementioned players would push them into actual playoff contention. Also, they should spend on at least two bigger named bullpen arms and I wouldn’t be mad at them if they brought Howie Kendrick back as a solid backup for 3rd, 2nd and 1st.