Michael Kelly: Everything you need to know

The Athletics optioned Kelly to Triple-A Las Vegas on Thursday. Kelly has allowed three runs with a 4:4 K:BB in his first 4.1 innings this season. He'll look to get reset at Las Vegas and earn another chance later this summer.

Kelly allowed a hit and a walk across a scoreless inning in Monday's Cactus League win over the Angels. He struck out one. Kelly entered in the eighth inning and allowed the first two batters to reach but worked out of the jam without surrendering a run. The right-hander has made six Cactus League appearances, allowing three runs on 12 hits and two walks while striking out seven across 5.2 innings. Coming off a 2025 season in which he posted a 3.18 ERA and 1.29 WHIP across 39.2 innings, Kelly projects to make the 2026 Opening Day roster and could factor into high-leverage opportunities in an Athletics bullpen expected to operate with a closer-by-committee approach.

Kelly allowed no hits and a walk with no strikeouts over a scoreless inning in Saturday's 4-2 loss against the Royals. Kelly worked a scoreless seventh inning against the Royals, issuing just a walk to Mike Yastrzemski. The right-hander has been excellent in September, posting a 1.93 ERA and 0.96 WHIP over 11 outings, including seven straight appearances without an earned run - his longest streak since opening the year with 10 consecutive scoreless frames. Overall, the 33-year-old owns a 2.75 ERA and 1.25 WHIP across 41 games and 39.1 innings this season.