by Jason Keil | Photography by Jill McNamara
Here’s to the late bloomers. In 2015, Arizona State University product Merrill Kelly had five solid minor league seasons under his belt but was getting paid peanuts while waiting to be called up to “The Show.” So, the then-26-year-old flipped the script and went to play in Korea. The rest is history. Kelly returned to the U.S. and made his MLB debut with the Diamondbacks in 2019, and in the 2023 World Series, he struck out nine batters without a walk in Game 2, one of only seven pitchers to accomplish that feat. “The playoffs were the biggest games of my life, hands down,” Kelly says. “For whatever reason, those were the calmest, clearest games I’ve ever had.” The humble 36-year-old earned his confidence and serenity through his unusual career path by adopting the mindset of “adjust or die,” which has served him well as he enters the 2025 season in the toughest division in baseball, ready to shake things up with a new pitch and plenty of optimism.
What was the most significant lesson you learned playing in the minors and Korea?
I would say the biggest thing I learned is just to keep going. In this game, you have a lot more failures than successes, especially when your back is against the wall. You compete for 13 pitching spots on a big-league roster when you’re down in the minors. For my career, going to Korea was probably the best path at that point. But the days I had a bad game or wasn’t feeling right were when I had to dig deep.
What kept you going?
The dream. It sounds cliché, and it may be, but I’ve dreamt about being a professional athlete on the highest level since I was young. I have a brother a few years older than me who played baseball. My dad played baseball. But if you leave affiliated baseball, it’s hard to come back. But the idea was still there. It might have been a different feeling if I had made the big leagues before I went to Korea. I was still chasing that carrot to get back.
You’ve added a slider to your repertoire. Have you ever done that before? Added pitches?
I started throwing the slider a little bit last year, but it’s been a point of emphasis for the spring. I added the cutter in Korea. My fastball has some good arm-side run on it, but every time I threw it to a lefty, it would get whacked. Instead of beating my head against the wall to figure out how to manipulate it to get it over there, I thought, “Let’s just throw something that goes that way so it can’t go the other way.”
How do you know when you’ve succeeded?
That can mean a lot of things in baseball, right? Career-wise, the fact that I’m still here at 36 years old is a win. The fact that I’m still able to put on a big-league jersey is a victory. We can dial it down to the smaller stuff. We can talk about getting the guy out, which is obviously a win. Even the nuances in between that – just executing the pitch I have set out to throw is also a win.
As one of the older players on the team, are you able to pass on any wisdom to the younger guys?
I hope so. My personality type isn’t necessarily one to go to somebody and offer it unless I see something jumping out to me. But obviously, the young pitchers ask me questions. I think the fact that I am the oldest guy on the team means it’s an honor that I’m still able to do it. I hope I can set an example for the young guys on what consistency and discipline can lead to in the long run.
