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By John Nolan
Assistant Director of Scouting/Content Management 

Paul VI Catholic righthanded pitcher Kevin Kelly has committed to attend James Madison University in the fall of 2016. Kelly is the fifth member of the Panthers’ 2016 class to commit to a Division I school and sixth member to commit to play baseball after graduating from Paul VI. Kelly rounds out a talented senior class at Paul VI that includes Devon Adams (C, 2016, Old Dominion), Clayton Baine (MIF, 2016, Radford), Michael Coritz (CIF, 2016, Naval Academy), Jack Cunningham (OF, 2016, Boston College), and Tim Newell (RHP, 2016, Roanoke). The Panthers have an experienced and talented team and will be contenders this spring in the WCAC and VISAA Division I.

Kelly is a big kid with a strong lower half. He has a drop and drive delivery and throws primarily from a low three-quarters slot but does drop down on some pitches. His fastball sat 84-86 at a Dirtbags workout in late August, touching 87 and had late, heavy sinking action to it. His slider had late, sharp 10/4 break and was thrown with full armspeed, sitting 67-68. His changeup had heavy sink, almost splitter action, and was thrown with full armspeed, running 80-81. His best offspeed offering was his drop down slider, which had sharp sweeping action and ran 68-70. Righties had no chance when he threw it. He pounded the strike zone with all of his pitches.

When he arrives at James Madison, Kelly will immediately be able to help the Dukes as a relief option who can dominate right-handed hitters and get a lot of ground balls and strikeouts with his outstanding sinker-slider combination. His frame and delivery add deception which makes him especially hard to hit in a short outing. Kelly has the kind of frame, arm action, and stuff to be a pitcher that could develop into a weekend starter at some point in his career, generating a lot of strikeouts and weak contact.

Congrats Kevin!