Antwone Kelly continues to grow in his first full season of pro ball

After a rough opening month, Antwone Kelly showed great progress in May.

Photo Credit: WTM

When you look at many pitchers in the lower levels, they have the stuff—it’s just a matter of learning how to become pitchers and not just throwers.

One of those prospects in the lower levels for the Pirates is Antwone Kelly, a right-handed pitcher currently playing for the Bradenton Marauders.

Kelly's first full for the Marauders has been an up-and-down start. He pitched five no-hit innings on May 2 against Fort Myers, walking three and striking out five. Against Dunedin on May 22, Kelly struck out a season-high seven in four shutout innings.

He’s also had some rough outings, especially going back to the first month of the season. During April, Kelly posted a 9.00 ERA in 14 innings pitched, walking eight and striking out 11.

May saw improvements, with Kelly putting up a much better 2.35 ERA in 23 innings while seeing a decent increase in his strikeout rate (15.9% to 26.1%).

A big reason for the improvements has been Kelly's natural maturation on the mound, learning to be more of a pitcher than a thrower.

“Antwone, last year, was a big overthrower,” Marauders’ manager Jim Horner, who also coached Kelly in the FCL last year, said. “He has a really good fastball and he so badly wanted to overthrow it when he threw it. He’s now understanding that he doesn’t have to overthrow it, and he can actually get in the strikezone better and it still has really good life to it.”

Through May, Kelly has thrown the fastball 47% of the time, according to statcast on Baseball Savant. It gets good life up in the zone, and opponents have an xBA of .231 and xwOBA of .304, both solid marks for being a fastball.

He’s had varying success with it but has especially excelled when he attacks the top of the strike zone.

Another step in becoming a more complete pitcher is the progress of his secondary stuff. According to statcast, Kelly also throws a change-up (20.3%), cutter (18%), and slider (8.9%), along with his fastball (and sinker, according to Baseball Savant).

The change-up being his go-to secondary offering is a good sign for a young pitcher because, at times, it’s one of the last pitches to come, and sometimes, it is the difference between staying a starter or shifting to the bullpen.

Based on the quality of contact, hitters have an xBA of just .120 against the change-up, and Kelly has generated a whiff rate of 35.6% with it. You can see the success he has had when he keeps it near the bottom of the zone.

“Antwone, the sky is the limit,” Horner said. “He’s got such a good arm and he’s got good stuff, a really good change-up.”

The stuff is there for Kelly to take the next step. He’s still learning, and now and again there will be a hiccup, that’s all part of the process.

In the bigger picture, realizing that your stuff is good and trusting that it will play how you want. For Kelly, Horner believes trusting in his stuff can take him to his next step in development.

“He knows he has that stuff, it’s just a matter of him trusting that stuff all the time, which is the next step of maturity.”