Carson Kelly

Bats R Throws R6'2" 212 lbBorn 1994 Chicago, USADebut 2016Team CHCDraft 2012 R2 #86 St. Louis Cardinals, Westview HS (OR)Contract 2 y/$11.5M (25-26) 2026: $5,000,000

Projections

2027 NEXT+ 123.6FIELD+ 107.3 at CTotal 1.96 WAR

Season	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	ISO	wOBA	K%	BB%	HIT+	WAR
2026	361	317	74	13	1	11	37	74	2	0.233	0.318	0.385	0.703	0.152	0.311	20.6	10.3	96.2	0.96
2027	321	283	67	12	1	9	32	62	1	0.235	0.318	0.370	0.688	0.135	0.306	19.4	9.9	94.6	0.79

Projected rates are per plate appearance or batter faced; counting stats scale with projected playing time. Statcast measurements inform these projections as inputs and are reported as measurements, not projected.

Most similar through age 30

His ten closest age-30 comparables averaged 91 HIT+ the next season; 10 of 10 played. Averages cover only the players who got a next season, which is why the played count matters.

#	Player	Through	HIT+ then	Next season	Next PA / BF
1	Bob Boone	1978	88.3	113.0	454
2	Muddy Ruel	1926	90.1	107.5	504
3	Mike Heath	1985	85.7	75.8	319
4	Bengie Molina	2005	81.9	100.2	458
5	John Buck	2011	88.6	73.8	398
6	Michael Barrett	2007	87.6	61.6	107
7	Rick Dempsey	1980	87.1	87.9	287
8	Phil Masi	1946	97.8	119.0	470
9	Ed Phelps	1909	86.4	98.5	319
10	Frank Snyder	1924	91.8	71.9	350

Batting

Year	Team	G	PA	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	HIT+
2027 proj			321		67	12	1	9		1	32	62	0.235	0.318	0.370	0.688	94.6
2026*	CHN	95	333	43	77	12	0	7		0	34	57	0.260	0.342	0.372	0.714	110.2
2025	CHC	111	421	48	92	13	1	17	50	2	45	80	0.249	0.333	0.428	0.761	120.7
2024	TEX	91	313	32	67	9	1	9	37	0	25	55	0.238	0.313	0.374	0.687	99.0
2023	DET	52	151	13	28	5	0	2	13	1	14	40	0.206	0.278	0.287	0.565	55.6
2022	ARI	104	354	40	67	18	0	7	35	2	29	71	0.211	0.282	0.334	0.617	75.7
2021	ARI	98	359	41	73	11	1	13	46	0	44	74	0.240	0.343	0.411	0.754	105.8
2020	ARI	39	129	11	27	5	0	5	19	0	6	29	0.221	0.264	0.385	0.649	69.4
2019	ARI	111	365	46	77	19	0	18	47	0	48	79	0.245	0.348	0.478	0.826	107.5
2018	STL	19	42	1	4	0	0	0	3	0	3	7	0.114	0.205	0.114	0.319	-7.3
2017	STL	34	75	5	12	3	0	0	6	0	5	11	0.174	0.240	0.217	0.457	22.3
2016	STL	10	14	1	2	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	0.154	0.214	0.231	0.445	16.3
Career		669	2223	238	449	84	3	71	257	5	219	448	0.229	0.312	0.384	0.696	92.1

Pitching

Year	Team	ERA	G	IP	BF	HR	BB	SO
2023	DET	10.12	3	2.7	18	1	1	1
2022	ARI	7.71	4	4.7	24	1	2	0
2020	ARI	0.00	1	1.0	4	0	0	0
Career		7.56	8	8.3	46	2	3	1

Statcast

Year	PA	EV	LA	Barrel%	HardHit%	Whiff%	Chase%	xBA	xSLG	xwOBA	Sprint
2026	333	87.1	11.4	5.4	36.0	19.9	25.3	0.243	0.377	0.314	25.9
2025	421	88.8	16.4	9.6	40.3	20.6	22.0	0.236	0.411	0.321	26.0
2024	313	87.6	13.6	6.6	39.4	22.8	24.4	0.233	0.410	0.318	25.6
2023	151	86.8	15.6	2.1	33.0	30.2	25.9	0.185	0.286	0.248	25.7
2022	354	87.7	14.7	5.2	36.8	21.1	24.3	0.225	0.362	0.293	25.7
2021	359	88.2	18.6	8.5	34.0	25.0	22.3	0.250	0.431	0.345	25.6
2020	129	86.3	16.7	4.3	34.4	26.8	23.7	0.222	0.355	0.270	25.6
2019	365	88.9	14.3	9.3	40.4	23.3	22.3	0.249	0.460	0.340	25.2
2018	42	85.1	10.2	7.1	25.8	20.0	16.9	0.176	0.308	0.256	24.6
2017	75	81.9	5.6	0.0	31.0	16.0	23.2	0.212	0.355	0.276	25.8
2016	14	89.3	10.5	0.0	27.3	25.0	17.4	0.168	0.214	0.206	23.6

Fielding

Year	Team	Pos	G	Inn	PO	A	E	DP	Fld%	Runs saved
2025	CHC	C	105	864	777	23	2	6	0.998	-2.5
2024	TEX	C	84	673	642	33	3	8	0.996	+2.2
2023	DET	C	47	379	362	22	0	3	1.000	-2.5
2023	DET	P	3	3	0	0	0	0		-0.3
2022	ARI	C	100	772	707	35	0	4	1.000	+0.6
2022	ARI	P	4	5	0	0	0	0		-0.1
2021	ARI	C	91	707	617	29	5	3	0.992	+0.0
2020	ARI	C	38	289	291	13	2	1	0.993	+4.0
2020	ARI	P	1	1	0	0	0	0		-0.0
2019	ARI	C	101	786	792	49	8	2	0.991	+4.9
2019	ARI	3B	1	1	0	0	0	0		-0.0
2018	STL	C	16	100	85	6	0	0	1.000	+0.0
2017	STL	C	31	162	150	8	1	0	0.994	-0.1
2016	STL	C	10	36	30	2	0	0	1.000	-0.0

Runs saved covers the Statcast era; for catchers it includes framing.

Minor leagues

Year	Level	Team	Side	PA / BF	Line	AVG / ERA	OPS
2023	AAA	Reno Aces	Bat	34	0 HR, 0 SB	0.345	0.860
2022	AAA	Reno Aces	Bat	22	2 HR, 0 SB	0.353	1.279
2018	AAA	Memphis Redbirds	Bat	349	7 HR, 0 SB	0.269	0.773
2017	AAA	Memphis Redbirds	Bat	280	10 HR, 0 SB	0.283	0.834
2016	AAA	Memphis Redbirds	Bat	126	0 HR, 0 SB	0.292	0.733
2016	AA	Springfield Cardinals	Bat	236	6 HR, 0 SB	0.287	0.741
2015	A+	Palm Beach Cardinals	Bat	419	8 HR, 0 SB	0.219	0.595
2014	A	Peoria Chiefs	Bat	415	6 HR, 1 SB	0.248	0.692
2013	A	Peoria Chiefs	Bat	168	2 HR, 0 SB	0.219	0.589
2012	Rk	Johnson City Cardinals	Bat	225	9 HR, 0 SB	0.225	0.662

Splits

Year	vs LHP	vs RHP	Home	Away
2026	0.423	0.284	0.350	0.315
2025	0.352	0.334	0.312	0.368
2024	0.361	0.297	0.289	0.324
2023	0.357	0.218	0.198	0.330
2022	0.264	0.287	0.286	0.271
2021	0.434	0.284	0.315	0.363
2020	0.205	0.330	0.329	0.236
2019	0.465	0.315	0.286	0.423

wOBA by split, from pitch level data, 2015 on. For pitchers the split is the batter side faced.

Postseason batting

Year	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2025	8	28	2	5	0	0	1	1	0	1	12	0.179	0.233	0.286	0.519
Career	8	28	2	5	0	0	1	1	0	1	12	0.179	0.233	0.286	0.519