Editorials

Dodgers: Joe Kelly is in Mid-Season Form for Los Angeles

The Dodgers signed World Series champion Joe Kelly in the off-season, but the performance we saw from him last year with the Red Sox, did not translate with the Dodgers until May. The Dodgers signed Kelly to a 3-year deal, to be the bridge for closer Kenley Jansen.

That wasn’t the case early on.



Through April and into May, Kelly was losing games for the Dodgers, and some fans began to panic. However, last season when it counted most, Kelly stepped up to the challenge and helped the Red Sox win the World Series.

In April, Kelly had an ERA just under 10. Most of the losses for the Dodgers in April were by 1 or 2 runs when Kelly pitched. In his first May appearance, Kelly allowed 3 more runs and things were looking bleak with his 10.12 ERA.

After that outing, however, something changed for Joe. He allowed only two more earned runs over 6 more appearances in May, and set himself up for a big June and July.

And a big June it was as an ERA of 1 over 9 innings pitched helped cut his season ERA from 8.35 at the end of May, to 5.93 before July 1st. In April and May combined, Kelly faced 89 batters and allowed 27 hits and 8 walks while striking out 18. In June, he struck out 14 of 41 batters faced, and allowed only a .293 OBP.

Moreover, after serving up 4 home runs through his first 18 outings, he’s allowed only 1 in 20 games since. He’s also lowered his season ERA to 5.06 here in August.

Kelly looks like he’s getting back in form, and this will be an essential component into any World Series run for the Dodgers. It seems like Kelly has settled in, and he’s locked in for another World Series title. If Kelly continues his dominance that we saw from him these past two months, the Dodgers keeping their prospects, and not trading for relief pitchers such as Felipe Vasquez, Edwin Diaz, or Shane Greene, will have paid off.

Joe Kelly will be one of the keys for the Dodgers to win the World Series.

Levon Satamian

My name is Levon Satamian. I am currently attending Cal State Northridge, and majoring in Broadcast Journalism.

4 Comments

  1. Kelly has been solid for the past couple of months. His start to the season was just so bad that is all anyone remembers. If he can be close to duplicating the post season he had last year he’s worth the contract. Right now he is one of the people out of the pen I want to see pitch.

  2. I think he has been using his curve early in the count and his early at bat command has improved. He’s fast but major league hitters can hit 95-98 pretty consistently. When he can use his fastball once in an at bat, especially if he has two strikes..he’s lights out.

  3. I will admit, I was a Kelly doubter. I am glad to be proven wrong, and I think the front office was smart to retain our prospects at the deadline. If JoKe can keep this up, the bullpen will shake its rep as the weak link.
    Now if only the Dodgers did something about their NL worst defense……

  4. The bad defense is a result of many switches,etc. Once in the playoffs, there will be no more mad shuffling and experimentation. The top guys will be locked into their positions and we will be fine.

    The Joc experiment affected more than just Joc’s errors, guys were trying to make perfect throws as well. When you trust the first baseman, you will throw without thinking and muscle memory will take over.

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