The A’s announced this evening that the club has claimed right-hander Michael Kelly off waivers from the Guardians. In addition, the club announced that they have signed outfielder Daz Cameron to a minor league contract that includes an invitation to Spring Training.
Kelly, 31, was designated for assignment by the Guardians earlier this week. A first-round pick by the Padres during the 2011 draft, Kelly has spent most of his career as a minor league journeyman. He spent the first several seasons of his career with San Diego before departing for the Orioles organization in 2018. He spent the 2019 season pitching in independent ball before returning to affiliated ball in 2021 with the Astros. After spending 2022 with the Phillies and 2023 in Cleveland, Kelly is now on to his fourth organization in as many seasons.
Kelly has performed fairly well in limited chances at the big league level, with a career 3.48 ERA and 3.52 FIP across 20 2/3 innings of work out of the bullpen with the Phillies and Guardians. He owns a solid 23% strikeout rate during that time, but pairs it with a worrisome 11.5% walk rate. Kelly’s issues with the free pass extend to his work at Triple-A, where he’s walked 11.7% of batters faced across six seasons. He owns a 4.69 ERA in that time, though that figure was a far more palatable 3.58 in 37 2/3 innings of work at the level this year.
As for Cameron, the 26-year-old outfielder was a first-round pick by the Astros in the 2015 draft. After heading to Detroit as part of the return in the Justin Verlander trade, Cameron played in parts of three seasons for the Tigers from 2020-22, accumulating a slash line of just .201/.266/.330 across 244 big league plate appearances during that time. Cameron played for the Orioles at the Triple-A level this season and did fairly well for himself, slashing .268/.346/.452 in 446 trips to the plate for what was the best full-season performance at the level of his career. The A’s currently project to utilize Esteury Ruiz, Seth Brown, and JJ Bleday in the outfield entering next season. That outfield mix leaves plenty of opportunities for Cameron to break camp with the team should his performance this spring warrant it.
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