Antoine Kelly’s time with the Cubs ended the way it began: with intrigue, but not much runway.
The left-hander has signed a minor league deal with the Cleveland Guardians after finishing the 2026 season in the Chicago Cubs organization. Kelly, 26, was acquired by the Cubs in June in a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers that sent cash to Los Angeles, but he barely got a chance to stick.
Chicago brought him up at the end of July, and Kelly made one appearance for the Cubs against the New York Yankees. In that outing, he struck out one batter, walked one, and allowed no hits or runs. A week later, he was sent back to Triple-A and never returned to the big league club.
What kept Kelly from carving out a longer look was the same issue that followed him through his Cubs stint: the walks. After the trade, he issued 22 free passes in 29.2 innings, while also hitting two batters and throwing six wild pitches.
Even so, the raw stuff still jumps off the page. He throws in the high 90s, and at Iowa he posted a 25.7% strikeout rate with a 4.25 ERA.
That combination - size, velocity, and swing-and-miss ability - is exactly why Kelly still draws attention, even after an uneven year. The Cubs, though, appear to have moved on after his Triple-A stretch, and Kelly elected free agency after the 2026 season.
Now he lands with a Guardians organization that has built a reputation for developing pitching. Cleveland may not carry the same label as the Milwaukee Brewers or Tampa Bay Rays, but the fit makes sense for a pitcher still trying to turn tools into results. It would not be a surprise if Kelly gets another step forward there after years in the minors.
For the Cubs, the bullpen picture for 2027 is already taking shape without him. Even without a true closer, they have Daniel Palencia, Ryan Zeferjahn, Jacob Webb, Shelby Miller, Ryan Rolison, Phil Maton, and Javier Assad in the mix. Riley Martin and Braxton Garrett are also in the conversation, along with the usual crop of reclamation projects the team is expected to add over the offseason.
Kelly would have fit into that reclamation group, but Chicago evidently decided his uneven Triple-A work was enough to keep looking elsewhere.
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