After acquiring Kyle Tucker via trade, the Chicago Cubs signed catcher Carson Kelly to a two-year major league contract, according to a MLB.com press release.
Kelly, 30, has hit .224 (357-for-1,591) with 54 home runs and 207 RBI, while posting a 4.45 catchers ERA in 556 career games in parts of nine major league seasons with St. Louis (2016-18), Arizona (2019-23), Detroit (2023-24) and Texas (2024). He made his major league debut on September 5, 2016 in Pittsburgh, recording his first career hit, a double, in his only plate appearance in the game, said MLB.com.
MLB.com also said since the start of the 2019 season, Kelly’s 461 games caught are 10th-most in the majors and, among catchers (min. 300 G), his .995 fielding percentage also ranks 10th. From September 23, 2021-April 20, 2024, he caught 172-straight games without committing an error. He was the only catcher in the majors to not record an error in 2023, and one of just five in 2022.
Born in Chicago, Kelly was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the second round of the 2012 draft. He played in the 2016 MLB Futures Game and was ranked the No. 39 prospect by MLB.com ahead of the 2017 season as a member of the Cardinals farm system, added the MLB.com press release.
(Information courtesy of a MLB.com Press Release).
