Rockies Outright Antoine Kelly

The Rockies announced Thursday that left-hander Antoine Kelly passed through waivers unclaimed and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Albuquerque. The team did not make a corresponding transaction, nor had Kelly previously been designated for assignment. His outright drops Colorado’s 40-man roster to a count of 39 players.

Kelly, 24, was claimed off waivers out of the Rangers organization back on July 15. The 2019 second-rounder went from Milwaukee to Texas in 2022’s Matt Bush trade. He had a breakout 2023 showing in the Rangers’ system, splitting the year between Double-A and Triple-A while working to a combined 2.04 ERA with 11 saves, a 32.1% strikeout rate and a 9.3% walk rate.

That performance had Kelly looking as though he could be on the cusp of joining the Rangers and carving out a permanent place in the bullpen. Had he continued on that trajectory, perhaps that’d have been the case. However, Kelly missed time with a forearm injury this season, and his control has been nonexistent when healthy. He’s posted a staggering 10.98 ERA in 19 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A, and he’s walked more batters than he’s fanned. A woeful 25.4% of Kelly’s opponents have reached via base on balls, compared to a 23.7% strikeout rate. He’s also plunked a pair of hitters and thrown five wild pitches.

There’s little doubt that when healthy and at his best, Kelly had the look of a viable big league reliever. He’s never demonstrated plus command, but in the past, his strikeout rate and an above-average ground-ball rate have helped to offset a walk rate that was a tick or two higher than average. This year’s injury-marred and walk-riddled season has clearly thrown the lefty’s future outlook into question. For now, he’ll stick with the Rockies’ Triple-A affiliate and look to get back on track without occupying a spot on the 40-man roster.

As for the Rox, they now have a vacancy if they wish to claim any of the recently DFA’ed players or veterans who’ve been placed on outright waivers as teams look to shed salary. Colorado isn’t likely to claim anyone who’s a free agent at season’s end, but speculatively speaking, they could potentially consider taking a look at someone who’s signed/controlled beyond the current season. At the moment, only the Marlins and White Sox have waiver priority over them.