Rays right-hander Trevor Kelley has cleared waivers and been outrighted off the team’s 40-man roster, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (X link). Kelley will report to Triple-A Durham and remain in the organization, as he has chosen to pass on his right to reject the outright assignment in favor of free agency — Kelley has previously been outrighted in his career, giving him the right to turn down future outright assignments.
Back in January, Kelley exercised this right by entering the free agent market after the Brewers designated him for assignment and outrighted him off their 40-man. The righty reliever signed a minor league deal with Tampa shortly thereafter, and Kelley has been up and down from Durham a few times this season, totaling 15 1/3 innings over 10 games at the Major League level before the Rays designated him for assignment last week.
This majors-to-minors shuttle has been a frequent element of Kelley’s career over his four MLB seasons, and may have contributed to his 6.75 ERA over 50 2/3 frames of work in the big leagues. Debuting with the Red Sox in 2019, Kelley has also pitched with Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Tampa Bay in the majors, and he was a member of the Cubs and Braves organizations in 2021 without seeing any time on their active rosters.
Despite the lack of success in the majors, Kelley’s Triple-A numbers are the easy explanation as to why the 30-year-old keeps getting chances with multiple teams. Kelley has a 2.38 ERA over 197 innings at Triple-A, as well as decent strikeout (24.42%) and walk (8.47%) rates. However, Kelley didn’t perform as well with Durham this year, as he allowed seven homers over 32 2/3 innings en route to posting a 5.23 ERA.
Maybe he’s actually left-handed?