Casey Kelly, drafted in June, is already ranked the Sox’s fifth-best prospect. He is a two-way player, preferring to play shortstop while the Red Sox see his future on the mound. He has played shortstop this year and will pitch later this year and start next year as a pitcher until he has reached his innings limit; he will then shift to shortstop. At least that is the plan for the 18-year old, who hit .173/.229/.255 in 98 at-bats for the GCL Red Sox and is at .344/.344/.563 for Single-A Lowell…
Were you expecting to be drafted by the Red Sox or did it come as a surprise to you? What other teams were interested in you?
Not really, I thought the Tigers or Yankees were going to take me before the Red Sox had a chance.. the Nationals and Marlins were also interested in me.
Have you bought anything for yourself since you signed? A treat with the signing bonus?
I have bought some new clothes and shoes but thatch it — I bought my dad a new F-150 FX2 sport truck. I want to take care of my family before me cause I’m where I am ’cause of them.
How has being the son of a former major leaguer impacted your development?
I owe all my success to him; he has taught me everything from playing to how to handle my self and being around the clubhouse since I could walk, I watched how guys went about their business and what separated those guys from other guys.
You’re playing shortstop for the rest of this year but the Red Sox are more interested in having you pitch. Why do you prefer playing shortstop more?
I love playing shortstop and hitting. I prefer playing shortstop and playing everyday.
How did you and the Red Sox handle the shortstop/pitching questions in negotiations?
I expressed my love for shortstop and that I wanted to try it out. They expressed what they thought of me as a fielder and as a pitcher. We wetn back and fourth with ideas and things to work out.
You recently were promoted to Lowell after playing for the GCL Red Sox. How have you adjusted to professional life so far?
I think I have adjusted very well. This is what my whole life has been in the summer, traveling with my dad, so I don’t know anything else.
Please give us your scouting report both as a shortstop and as a pitcher.
I have very good hands and feet, a very good arm… I have very good range for being a bigger shortstop. Pitching, I have control of all three pitches [Evan: fastball, hard curve, changeup]. I have a pretty good fastball that moves a lot and a curve that’s pretty good also.
You were going to head to Tennessee to be quarterback. Do you prefer playing football or is baseball your number one passion and the reason you signed a contract?
I loved playing football games. Didn’t like the practice, ha ha… but baseball was my first love and something I always wanted to do with my career. And I def[initely] knew baseball was the way I was going to go.
What are your short-term goals right now?
My short term goals are to just get better each day and learn as much as I can from some of the other guys.
Thanks to Casey for answering the questions!
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Definitely on a roll Evan. I kinda hope that he comes around more to pitching, because he has top of the rotation potential. Of course he also has the potential to be an excellent shortstop, so we’ll see. I’m also glad that he didn’t go to Tennessee, I really don’t like that school.
Thanks, Bob! I’m excited to follow Casey as well!
ice job Evan. Any answer for the “Who has impressed you so far” question? I would be interested to see that answer…guessing Derek Gibson could be the answer…although he could be considered competition down the road.
I’m glad he’ll start next year as a pitcher in Greenville although it may be tricky if one skill is remarkedly ahead of the other (i.e. he pitches well but his bat lags…although the Sox may like that as a reason to convince him to stick with pitching). With the way Gibson looked in the GCL and remembering that Oscar Tejeda is still basically high school age (only 2 months older then Kelly) and finished very strongly for Greenville it is certainly a positive to let him get his innings first and foremost next year.
Nope, I’m following up with him on that.
That’s another reason that I’d like to see him stick with pitching. There are lot’s of shortstops in the system (although he could be the best) and I like Derrick Gibson. There are very few pitchers out there with stuff as advanced at his age.
He said he’ can’t answer ; doesn’t know enough about his new teammates yet.
This guy is going to be a player in this league. He has a real shot at being the starting shortshop in the next three to four years.
Mike Lowell will be retired, and it is likely that Lowrie will move over to third base by the time Kelly joins the Bigs. What an infield with Youkilis, Pedroia, [Kelly, Tejada or Middlebrooks] and Lowrie.
The worst case scenario is he becomes a 4-5 guy in the starting rotation or a middle reliever. And, if that doesn’t work out, he is good trade bait for whatever needs the Red Sox may have in 2-3 years.
I think they should develop Kelly as both a shortstop and a Pitcher. On the shortstop side of it you work out the major kinks in his defensive skills but the minor things I would leave for now. At the same time you develop his pitching skills. The best example I can see of the last time this happened was Rick Ankiel with the Cardinals. He was a great pitching prospect, got hurt and couldn’t pitch anymore, he went back to the minors to learn the intricacies of playing center field and came back with a vengance a couple years later as a power hitter. God forbid anything major happens to Kelly’s arm during development, he could potentially shift back to shortstop and become a major factor in the Red Sox plans for that position in the future. Now, it’s impossible to see that far ahead in time so I have no way of knowing who will be playing SS for the Sox four or five years from now but he’s a first round pick at both positions, so if Jed Lowrie sticks around for a bit and doesn’t really improve too much, I think Kelly could potentially take over his job, hypothetically, of course. Another way I think they could go is if Kelly doesn’t show immediate improvement with his pitching, yank him off that and focus solely on his development at SS. I think they can get away with this because the Red Sox front office has a great eye for young pitchers and can coninue to just pump them out like the Texas Rangers pump out power hitters. But, I’m just a blogger.