The Guardians added another left-handed arm to the mix Monday, signing Antoine Kelly to a minor league contract and bringing him into major league spring training.
Kelly, a Bledsoe Agency client, reached the majors with the Cubs this past season. His first big league look was tiny - just 1 1/3 innings - but he did keep the Yankees off the board in that outing. The 26-year-old, who turns 27 in December, then spent the rest of the 2026 season working in Triple-A for the Cubs and Dodgers.
Across those Triple-A stops, Kelly logged 50 2/3 innings with a 4.62 ERA, a 23.7% strikeout rate and a 16.7% walk rate. That command issue has been the story for much of his pro career. In parts of four seasons at the Triple-A level, he owns a 5.82 ERA over 120 2/3 innings, with a 23.5% strikeout rate and a 16.6% walk rate.
The raw stuff is still what keeps Kelly interesting. He was a second-round pick, taken No. 65 overall by the Brewers in 2019, and has long been viewed as a pitcher whose fastball-slider combination could play at a high level if the control ever gets close to average. Instead, he’s already been through five organizations - Milwaukee, Texas, Colorado, Los Angeles and Chicago - and Cleveland will be the sixth.
The Guardians have had success helping talented but imperfect pitchers find another gear, and Kelly now gets a shot to see whether that can happen here. He also has a minor league option left, which means if Cleveland adds him to the 40-man roster, he can still be moved between Cleveland and Columbus for one more season before he’d have to stay in the majors.
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Guardians Take Another Pitching Flier With One Intriguing Bullpen Upside
The Guardians added another arm to their pitching mix this week, signing left-hander Antoine Kelly to a minor league contract for the 2027 season and bringing him into major league spring training as well. It is the kind of low-risk move Cleveland has long been willing to make, especially with pitchers who have bounced around the league and still offer a chance to be shaped into something useful.
Kelly has already reached the majors with the Cubs, and his path has taken him through the Brewers, Rangers, Rockies and Dodgers organizations. For Cleveland, the appeal is straightforward: more depth, more competition, and another bullpen option to evaluate without using a major league roster spot. [Read more 🡒]
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Griffins postseason work stood out on the mound, Lowe brought timely hitting and steady defense, and Adell gave the lineup a needed jolt with key offensive moments in October, including a pair of triples in the playoffs. For a front office that took real swings at the deadline, the recognition serves as a reminder that these were not just headline-grabbing additions, but moves that actually mattered when the games got bigger. [Read more 🡒]
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For a club that has long valued pitching depth and professionalism, the recognition fits the profile of both players. Smiths rise has turned him into one of the more notable relief arms in the league, and Messicks strong season has put him in the conversation for AL Rookie of the Year. The awards underscore how quickly both have moved from promising pieces to names with real league-wide weight, even if the bigger question now is how far each can carry that momentum from here. [Read more 🡒]