Matt Kelly
MLB
New York, NY, United States
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Past articles by Matt:
Trout rookie card breaks Honus T206 record
Mike Trout keeps passing Hall of Famers on the all-time WAR leaderboard, and now he’s passing them in the sports memorabilia world, too. A rare signed Trout rookie card sold for more than $3.9 million on Saturday night, breaking the record of $3.12 million set by the famous T206 Honus → Read More
Win amazing MLB experiences to help hungry
whether it be through responsible social distancing or acts of kindness and charitable giving. Major League Baseball’s most famous personalities continue to be at the forefront of the → Read More
Severino needs season-ending Tommy John
Luis Severino has a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) that will require Tommy John surgery, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told reporters on Tuesday. If and when he undergoes the surgery, Severino will miss the 2020 season and could also be limited to begin the ’21 campaign. Severino was → Read More
D-backs agree to Starling Marte trade (reports)
The D-backs have agreed to a trade with the Pirates for center fielder Starling Marte, according to multiple reports, including one by MLB Network insider Jon Heyman. Neither team has announced the exchange, which includes two prospects going to Pittsburgh, according to MLB Network insider Ken Rosenthal. The 31-year-old Marte → Read More
Who is the next unanimous HOFer?
failed to see a single candidate land on every Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot, → Read More
Only 23, a 2-time All-Star ... and he could get better
Gleyber Torres’ age vacillated between a wonder (he was only 22 last year) and a meme (can you believe he was only 22?) last season. But that number was brought up for good reason: Few middle infielders have accomplished what Torres did at 22 (128 OPS+, 38 HR, 3.6 fWAR), → Read More
Sleeper MLB Cy Young candidates for 2019
The competition for each league's Cy Young Award will be fierce once again in 2019. Chris Sale is still searching for his first Cy Young, and Max Scherzer is a favorite until proven otherwise. But you could rattle off about 10 more contenders without pause, because that's how good Major League pitching is right now. Trevor Bauer, Walker Buehler, Gerrit Cole and Aaron Nola all looked like Cy… → Read More
Pitchers and catchers 2019 report dates
Major League Baseball has revealed the first Spring Training workout dates for pitchers and catchers and those for the full squads for all 30 clubs. MLB also announced game times for all Cactus and Grapefruit League action in February and March. :: Spring Training coverage presented by Camping World :: → Read More
Manager Dave Roberts agrees to 4-year contract
The Dodgers announced Monday that they have signed manager Dave Roberts to a four-year contract extension that runs through 2022. Roberts has led the Dodgers to three straight National League West titles and back-to-back World Series appearances. The 46-year-old won the 2016 National League Manager of the Year Award and was a finalist again in '17. The Dodgers are 287-200 under Roberts since he… → Read More
Diaz, Barraclough named Relievers of the Month
Major League Baseball honored Seattle's Edwin Diaz and Miami's Kyle Barraclough as the American and National League's Relievers of the Month presented by The Hartford on Monday. It's the second such honor this season for Diaz, whose 32 saves leads the Majors, after he also claimed the AL award for the March/April period. The third-year reliever from Puerto Rico extended his incredible year by… → Read More
Shohei Ohtani has UCL sprain
Two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani will be placed on the disabled list with a Grade 2 sprain of the UCL, the Angels announced on Friday. The right-hander, who underwent a PRP and stem-cell injection on Thursday with Dr. Steve Yoon in Los Angeles, will be re-evaluated in three weeks. The righty was forced to exit four innings into his Wednesday start against the Royals after a blister that first… → Read More
Brewers agree to trade for Christian Yelich
The Marlins continued their rebuilding process on Thursday, trading Silver Slugger Award-winning outfielder Christian Yelich to the Brewers in exchange for three of Milwaukee's top 14 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline, and four overall -- including outfielder Lewis Brinson. The 23-year-old Brinson, who has 21 games of big league experience, is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the game's 13th-best… → Read More
Astros land Gerrit Cole in trade with Pirates
Gerrit Cole may be finally on the move. After weeks of trade speculation, the Astros have acquired the hard-throwing right-hander from the Pirates in a deal centered around righty Joe Musgrove and third-base prospect Colin Moran, a source told MLB.com's Adam Berry on Saturday. The clubs have not confirmed the trade, which will send four players to Pittsburgh, a source told MLB.com's Mark… → Read More
Jose Altuve thrives with first-pitch swinging
The Astros led the Red Sox, 4-2, in Game 1 of last year's American League Division Series at raucous Minute Maid Park when Jose Altuve dug in. Holding his bat high, Altuve looked out and saw Chris Sale staring back at him. Altuve had already taken Sale deep in the first inning, part of a shocking back-to-back combo with Alex Bregman, but Sale was eager for revenge. Boston's ace lefty reared back… → Read More
10 historic MLB performances from 2017
The season-end awards have been handed out. The Christmas stockings have been emptied. The ball is about to drop. Before we officially turn our attention to 2018, let's take one more opportunity to appreciate what we saw in baseball in 2017. Here are 10 season stat lines that will be remembered well beyond the flip of the calendar. → Read More
How to sound smart when talking baseball
Picture this: You're gathered with your family for the holidays, and you've run out of small talk. Naturally, the conversation could break off into multiple topics, and one group might find itself in a sports discussion -- let's say baseball. The sport is timeless, of course, with many of the same rules that were in place 100 years ago. But the strategies and gameplay can change rapidly, by the… → Read More
Statcast: Hitters poised to bounce back in '18
Hot Stove season is the time for Major League front offices to re-evaluate their rosters, and in this era, that means more than simply looking at a player's batting average, home runs and RBIs. A hitter's basic stat line can be deceiving when looked at in the context of just one season, because some players simply suffer from more “bad luck“ than others, whether it's from well-timed defensive… → Read More
Cy Young Award winners could make history
The 2017 season marked the Year of the Home Run, but it was an excellent year for strikeout artists, too. The three finalists for both the American League (Corey Kluber, Chris Sale and Luis Severino) and National League (Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg) Cy Young Awards separated themselves from the pack with plenty of punchouts. Together they combined for 1,477 strikeouts, to… → Read More
MLB best pitches of 2017
The 2017 MLB regular season saw a total of 724,625 pitches thrown. Some were faster than others, ranging from the 104-plus mph heaters from Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman to the mid-50s “super-changeups“ thrown by Red Sox reliever Fernando Abad. Some pitches were more effective than others, too. → Read More
Breakdown of free-agent pitchers in
Even before Jose Altuve threw to Yuli Gurriel for the final out of the Astros' 2017 World Series championship, front offices for each of MLB's 30 clubs had likely mocked up several drafts of their free-agent wish lists. The Astros were the 12th champion in the past 17 years, showing competitive balance remains as strong as ever. Nearly every club could be one or two moves away from turning a… → Read More