Kelly Ready to Add It Together

While Carson Kelly will be the first one to tell you that he is still learning his craft behind the plate, the 21-year old prospect has carried himself with an added confidence this Spring Training as he’s gone about his work.

“I think that started towards the end of the season last year,” said Kelly. “There were a lot of ups and downs throughout the season. I did a lot of reading and that kind of–just taking a step back almost from baseball, that’s kind of what gave me that edge. Now I feel like a different person, walk around confident in what I do and believing in my approach and all the work I’ve done. It’s believing and being confident in that–walking with my head up and a wide chest.”

At the end of last season, the 21-year old was recognized with the Rawlings Minor League Gold Glove Award for catchers, a nice reward for the work he’s put in to making the transition from third base to behind the plate the last couple of seasons. That would be an easy place to point for the added purpose to his walk, but in reality it was more of a focus for Carson before he received the award.

“I gotta like try and be mean, I don’t know how that works,” said Kelly with a smile. “It’s about being firm and that’s something that I’ve talked to a bunch of guys about. It’s just taking charge and being kind of that guy that you don’t want to mess with him.

My personality, I’m very friendly. I like to talk with guys. That’s tough for me, but that’s something I need to develop as I get older and go through the levels because that’s something that people are going to need–they need that catcher to be there and be firm for everybody.”

Among those Kelly is in regular conversation with are Mike Matheny and Yadier Molina. He dutifully writes their advice and other tips in his notebook each night and then reviews them the following morning.

And in fairness, confidence or that kind of firmness comes with learning the position. As his skills have developed behind the plate, it ahs allowed Kelly to work on the other nuances of the position and getting back to more attention to his bat.

“I now have a base of how I catch and what they’re expecting of me,” agreed Kelly. “Now it’s the smaller things for catching and a lot of direction towards hitting. Putting two and two together, putting both of those together is ultimately the goal and I believe that it’s going to happen. Just focusing on that–that’s the goal of this Spring Training and the off-season. I’m excited for what 2016 has to have.”

In six games of Grapefruit League action, Kelly is batting .417 (5-12) with a home run and three runs driven in. He’s caught 20 innings behind the plate.

And if that’s not enough, Kelly is still working towards his Managerial Economics degree from Oregon State University. He’s currently taking three classes, including Econometrics–which focuses on regression analysis.

Kelly has about one year left towards finishing up and plans to take at least one class during this season. “I feel it keeps my mind working,” he explained. “Instead of just going home and playing video games all night, you have something to focus on.”