Jared Kelley focused on improving breaking ball after slipping in draft

As one of the top high school pitchers in the 2020 MLB Draft, Jared Kelley had expectations of being taken in the first round.

“We went into Wednesday thinking that my name was going to be called and unfortunately it didn’t,” Kelley said on a June 18 episode of the FutureSox Podcast.

The White Sox swooped in and took the Texas right-hander in the second round. He has since signed for a $3,000,000 signing bonus, which was nearly double the slot bonus for the 47th pick.

Going into the draft Kelley talked to the White Sox a few times, but that wasn’t that different from the rest of baseball. He knew teams were interested, but wasn’t sure where he would land until the morning of the second day of the draft.

“You never really know what route they’re going,” Kelley said. “You don’t know high school, college, pitcher, hitter. You just don’t really know so I talked to all of them, but the White Sox called Thursday morning so I knew about an hour before the draft that we made an agreement with the White Sox.”

Kelley already had a connection within the White Sox system in last year’s second-round pick, Matthew Thompson. Kelley is from Refugio, which is a couple hours southeast of San Antonio in southern Texas. Thompson is from suburban Houston. They knew each other from USA Baseball and have been in touch since Kelley was drafted.

“I’m real good friends with him,” Kelley said of Thompson. “He was with me in my host family when we were on the 18U tryouts team so I’ve been talking with him to see how things have been going with professional baseball.”

While Thompson saw high-level high school competition in Texas, Kelley faced off against smaller schools. Refugio High School’s enrollment is around 200 kids.

“Where I was from it wasn’t very good,” Kelley said of the competition in Texas. “We were a small 2A (school). It started getting a little bit better by the playoffs, but during the regular season it wasn’t too good. I knew when I was on the mound I was going to be the same, it doesn’t matter who is in the box. I was going to pitch the same so it didn’t really matter to me.”

Kelley can say that about his competition after the numbers he put up this spring before the season got shut down. He struck out 34 batters in 12 innings while not allowing an earned run.

Kelley also played football at Refugio before focusing on baseball. Refugio’s football team won state titles in 2016 and 2019. The same arm strength that has Kelley throwing a mid 90s fastball as a high schooler allowed him to play quarterback at Refugio.

“Ever since I was little you could tell I had a stronger arm than the rest,” Kelley said. “Freshman, sophomore year I started to learn the ability to actually pitch instead of just throwing as hard as I can. That’s when it clicked for me. Learning how to locate pitches. Learning what count to throw what pitch in. That was the turning point for me.”

Kelley is noted for his fastball, changeup and control. He ranked in the top handful of high school pitchers in the country in those areas. His breaking ball is likely the pitch that will determine his success as a pro and he knows it.

“The main thing I was going into this season was working on my breaking ball,” Kelley said. “Every single outing I had it kept on getting better and better. Unfortunately, the season ended and I knew that was one of the big things that a lot of scouts were looking and talking about me.

“I knew it was going to get better and it was getting better and then the season got ended so that’s the only thing that I can see that hurt me.”

Kelley believes in his improvement with the pitch.

“I think it’s more of a slider now,” Kelley said. “It’s not that real slurvy, loopy ball. It’s more of just a hard, laid down movement and I’ve got it up to 85-87 mph now. So I think I have a true slider now.”

Leading up to the draft, Kelley wasn’t throwing as regularly. He said he did regular workouts, but was not throwing as much while waiting to get drafted and signed. Now, he’s in the fold for the White Sox, but there is no minor league season in 2020.

Kelley’s professional debut will have to wait longer than normal, but he’s still taken a big step toward fulfilling a childhood dream.

“I was going to be a professional athlete in whatever sport it was,” Kelley said. “I didn’t know if it was going to be football or baseball, but my dream was to be a professional athlete and when I got older I knew I wanted to play baseball. I wanted to be a professional baseball player. Now, my dream has become a reality. I’m just totally blessed and it’s exciting. I’m ready to get out there.”

Photo credit: Perfect Game USA

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