Comments on: INTERVIEW: Sox’s No. 1 pick: Casey Kelly

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:10:07 +0000

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.

By: Logan Laszczyk

Logan Laszczyk — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 03:38:49 +0000

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.

By: Evan Brunell

Evan Brunell — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 01:14:37 +0000

He said he’ can’t answer ; doesn’t know enough about his new teammates yet.

By: Bob

Bob — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:27:46 +0000

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.

By: Evan Brunell

Evan Brunell — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:20:28 +0000

Nope, I’m following up with him on that.

By: JaredK

JaredK — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:05:32 +0000

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.

By: Evan Brunell

Evan Brunell — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:06:32 +0000

Thanks, Bob! I’m excited to follow Casey as well!

By: Bob

Bob — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:52:09 +0000

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.