2025 Stats
W-L
5-2
ERA
3.52
WHIP
1.02
K
58
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
Fades late in no-decision
Kelly came away with a no-decision in Saturday's 6-5 loss to the Cardinals, giving up four runs on six hits and a walk over six-plus innings. He struck out six.
ANALYSIS
The veteran righty was locked in a pitchers' duel with Matthew Liberatore through six frames, but Kelly put the first three batters of the seventh on base with two hits and a walk, and all three came around to score after he'd left the mound. The Diamondbacks struck back for four runs in the top of the eighth to take him off the hook for the loss, however. Kelly was sharp prior to the late fade, racking up 31 called or swinging strikes among his 100 pitches (66 total strikes), and he'll take a 3.52 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 58:16 K:BB through 64 innings into his next start, which lines up to come at home next weekend against the Nationals.
The veteran righty was locked in a pitchers' duel with Matthew Liberatore through six frames, but Kelly put the first three batters of the seventh on base with two hits and a walk, and all three came around to score after he'd left the mound. The Diamondbacks struck back for four runs in the top of the eighth to take him off the hook for the loss, however. Kelly was sharp prior to the late fade, racking up 31 called or swinging strikes among his 100 pitches (66 total strikes), and he'll take a 3.52 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 58:16 K:BB through 64 innings into his next start, which lines up to come at home next weekend against the Nationals.
Pitching Stats
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2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
Minor League Game Log
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Pitching Appearances Breakdown
Average Pitch Count
90
Last 10 Games
90
Last 5 Games
94
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
-4%
BAA vs LHP
2025
-3%
BAA vs LHP
| BAA | K | BB | H | HR | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Since 2023vs Left | .218 | 148 | 65 | 128 | 20 | |||
| Since 2023vs Right | .228 | 160 | 39 | 131 | 17 | |||
| 2025vs Left | .203 | 35 | 11 | 26 | 3 | |||
| 2025vs Right | .209 | 23 | 5 | 23 | 3 | |||
| 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
-29%
ERA at Home
2025
-49%
ERA at Home
| ERA | WHIP | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Since 2023Home | 2.93 | 1.03 | 163.0 | 9.0 | 3.0 | ||||
| Since 2023Away | 4.14 | 1.28 | 152.1 | 8.6 | 2.9 | ||||
| 2025Home | 2.35 | 0.88 | 30.2 | 7.6 | 2.9 | ||||
| 2025Away | 4.59 | 1.14 | 33.1 | 8.6 | 1.6 | ||||
| 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
3.63K/9
8.2BB/9
2.3HR/9
0.8Fastball
91.9 mphERA
3.52WHIP
1.02BABIP
.260GB/FB
1.33Left On Base
68.9%Exit Velocity
84.0 mphBarrels/BBE
6.2%Spin Rate
2318 rpmBalls Hit 95+ MPH
31.1%Swinging Strike
10.2%Advanced Pitching Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Stats Vs Today's Lineup
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Merrill Kelly See More
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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
Dazzles in win
Kelly (5-2) picked up the win Sunday against Colorado, allowing one hit and three walks with 11 strikeouts over seven scoreless innings.
ANALYSIS
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Strikes out eight in win
Kelly (4-2) allowed a run on eight hits and struck out eight without walking a batter over seven innings to earn the win over the Giants on Monday.
ANALYSIS
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Solid in loss
Kelly (3-2) took the loss Wednesday against the Mets, allowing three runs on six hits over 6.1 innings. He struck out six.
ANALYSIS
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Ready to start Wednesday
Kelly (hamstring) is listed as the Diamondbacks' probable starter or Wednesday's game against the Mets in Arizona.
ANALYSIS
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Cramping issues return Friday
Kelly was removed from his start in Friday's 3-2 loss to the Phillies after five innings due to cramping in his right hamstring, Steve Gilbert of MLB.com reports. He took a no-decision and allowed one earned run on four hits and no walks while striking out two batters before being lifted.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Could be dealt
According to Will Sammon and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic, Kelly could be a trade chip for the Diamondbacks this offseason.
ANALYSIS
Arizona is receiving trade interest in its starting pitchers, and Kelly is a logical option to be dealt since he's in the final year of his contract. The right-hander was limited to 13 starts in 2024 due to a shoulder injury and had a 4.03 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and 63:19 K:BB over 73.2 innings.
Arizona is receiving trade interest in its starting pitchers, and Kelly is a logical option to be dealt since he's in the final year of his contract. The right-hander was limited to 13 starts in 2024 due to a shoulder injury and had a 4.03 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and 63:19 K:BB over 73.2 innings.