2025 Stats
W-L
8-5
ERA
3.34
WHIP
1.05
K
113
SV
0
Rest-of-Season Projections
2025 Fantasy Outlook
Before an early shoulder injury sidelined Kelly from mid-April to August, the right-hander was headed for a second consecutive impressive season, posting a 2.19 ERA over four starts. He had less success (4.96 ERA) following his return, but most of the damage was in August, and Kelly was back on form in September. Kelly finished with a greater HR/9 and struck out fewer batters in 2024, but when a pitcher misses four months, one should resist making judgments based on ratios/results and instead focus on the injury, which altered his pitch mix. Kelly threw more cutters and changeups than four-seamers for the first time in his career; however, he pitched well when healthy in April and September, putting him on a path for a normal winter of preparation. The Diamondbacks have confidence that the 36-year-old will return to his 2023 iteration (3.29 ERA, 9.5 K/9) and picked up his option. Read Past Outlooks
Signed a two-year, $17 million contract extension with the Diamondbacks in April of 2022. Diamondbacks exercised $7 million team option for 2025 in November of 2024.
Shaky command in win
Kelly (8-5) allowed one run on one hit and four walks while striking out six over five innings to earn the win over the Angels on Sunday.
Analysis
Kelly battled calf discomfort in his last start, but he looks to be fine after a 98-pitch start, though he landed just 58 of those pitches for strikes. He was still able to limit the damage to a Mike Trout RBI single in the third inning, and the Diamondbacks gave Kelly plenty of support to pick up his first win in four starts. The four walks matched his season high from his first start of the year, while the right-hander was able to keep the ball in the yard for the first time in six outings. He's at a 3.34 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 113:33 K:BB across 116 innings over 20 starts this season. Kelly should be in line for a start in Arizona's home series versus the Cardinals after the All-Star break.
Kelly battled calf discomfort in his last start, but he looks to be fine after a 98-pitch start, though he landed just 58 of those pitches for strikes. He was still able to limit the damage to a Mike Trout RBI single in the third inning, and the Diamondbacks gave Kelly plenty of support to pick up his first win in four starts. The four walks matched his season high from his first start of the year, while the right-hander was able to keep the ball in the yard for the first time in six outings. He's at a 3.34 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 113:33 K:BB across 116 innings over 20 starts this season. Kelly should be in line for a start in Arizona's home series versus the Cardinals after the All-Star break.
Pitching Stats
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2025 MLB Game Log
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2024
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2021
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Minor League Game Log
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Pitching Appearances Breakdown
Average Pitch Count
91
Last 10 Games
93
Last 5 Games
90
How many pitches does Merrill Kelly generally throw?
1-10
11-20
21-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
61-70
71-80
81-90
91-100
101-110
111-120
121+
What part of the game does Merrill Kelly generally pitch?
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
Extra
% Games Reaching Innings Threshold
% Games By Number of Innings Pitched
Left/Right Pitching Splits
Since 2023
-2%
BAA vs LHP
2025
-5%
BAA vs RHP
| BAA | K | BB | H | HR | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Since 2023vs Left | .219 | 167 | 73 | 151 | 26 | |||
| Since 2023vs Right | .224 | 196 | 48 | 148 | 18 | |||
| 2025vs Left | .212 | 54 | 19 | 49 | 9 | |||
| 2025vs Right | .202 | 59 | 14 | 40 | 4 | |||
| 2024vs Left | .234 | 23 | 16 | 33 | 6 | |||
| 2024vs Right | .250 | 40 | 3 | 34 | 5 | |||
| 2023vs Left | .218 | 90 | 38 | 69 | 11 | |||
| 2023vs Right | .226 | 97 | 31 | 74 | 9 | |||
| More Splits→ | View More Split Stats | |||||||
Home/Away Pitching Splits
Since 2023
-16%
ERA at Home
2025
-6%
ERA on Road
| ERA | WHIP | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Since 2023Home | 3.17 | 1.08 | 190.0 | 9.1 | 3.0 | ||||
| Since 2023Away | 3.76 | 1.21 | 177.1 | 8.6 | 2.9 | ||||
| 2025Home | 3.43 | 1.11 | 57.2 | 8.7 | 3.0 | ||||
| 2025Away | 3.24 | 0.99 | 58.1 | 8.8 | 2.2 | ||||
| 2024Home | 4.19 | 1.16 | 38.2 | 7.2 | 2.1 | ||||
| 2024Away | 3.86 | 1.17 | 35.0 | 8.2 | 2.6 | ||||
| 2023Home | 2.59 | 1.02 | 93.2 | 10.2 | 3.5 | ||||
| 2023Away | 4.07 | 1.38 | 84.0 | 8.7 | 3.5 | ||||
| More Splits→ | View More Split Stats | ||||||||
Stat Review
How does Merrill Kelly compare to other starting pitchers?
This section compares his stats with all starting pitcher seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 120 innings)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.
* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 120 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 120 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
K/BB
3.42K/9
8.8BB/9
2.6HR/9
1.0Fastball
92.0 mphERA
3.34WHIP
1.05BABIP
.262GB/FB
1.26Left On Base
70.3%Exit Velocity
83.4 mphBarrels/BBE
5.5%Spin Rate
2310 rpmBalls Hit 95+ MPH
29.0%Swinging Strike
11.1%Advanced Pitching Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Stats Vs Today's Lineup
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
Kelly's ratios were nearly equivalent to his breakthrough 2022 season, but he took a different path to get there. Last season, Kelly fanned a career best 25.9 percent of batters he faced, but he also walked them at a 9.6 percent clip, the highest mark of his career. However, the 16.3 percent K-BB% was his best in a full season. Kelly didn't change his pitch mix much, other than throwing a slider a bit and it was effective. His changeup was offering chiefly driving the increase in strikeouts. Despite posting strong ratios in 2022, Kelly wasn't trusted since he didn't miss many bats. Fast forward a year and Kelly is no longer a secret after fanning well more than a batter an inning and enjoying a strong playoff run. He's likely going to be drafted around 100 picks earlier this season, which puts him in risky territory, since that assumes Kelly continues to punch out hitters at the same rate. Don't shy away from Kelly, but don't expect a repeat of last season's newfound dominance.
More Fantasy News
In clear to start Sunday
Kelly (calf) will start Sunday's game against the Angels in Anaheim.
Analysis
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Bothered by right calf Tuesday
Kelly said after Tuesday's 1-0 loss to the Padres that he was lifted early from his start after experiencing right calf discomfort, but he doesn't believe it will be anything worrisome moving forward, ArizonaSports.com reports.
Analysis
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Unlucky loss Tuesday
Kelly (7-5) allowed one run on four hits and struck out four without walking a batter over seven innings, taking the loss Tuesday versus the Padres.
Analysis
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Decent in no-decision
Kelly didn't factor into the decision Wednesday against San Francisco, allowing three runs on five hits and three walks with three strikeouts over six innings.
Analysis
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Handed fourth loss
Kelly (7-4) allowed five runs (three earned) on six hits and a walk while striking out seven over five-plus innings, taking the loss versus the Marlins on Friday.
Analysis
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Cubs could be interested
Kelly could be a trade target for the Cubs ahead of the deadline, Jim Bowden of The Athletic speculates.
Analysis
There's no question the Cubs need to bolster their rotation if they want to make a deep playoff run in October, especially since Shota Imanaga has yet to return from a hamstring injury and Justin Steele is out for the rest of the season with an elbow problem. Kelly is one of two Arizona pitchers Chicago might target, with Zac Gallen being the other. Outside the shortened 2020 season in which he made only five starts, Kelly is having the best year of his career in 2025 from an ERA perspective. He owns a 3.18 ERA with a 0.99 WHIP across 14 starts and 82 innings.
There's no question the Cubs need to bolster their rotation if they want to make a deep playoff run in October, especially since Shota Imanaga has yet to return from a hamstring injury and Justin Steele is out for the rest of the season with an elbow problem. Kelly is one of two Arizona pitchers Chicago might target, with Zac Gallen being the other. Outside the shortened 2020 season in which he made only five starts, Kelly is having the best year of his career in 2025 from an ERA perspective. He owns a 3.18 ERA with a 0.99 WHIP across 14 starts and 82 innings.