CHICAGO – The Chicago Cubs have announced the signing of catcher Carson Kelly to a two-year major league contract. With this addition, the Cubs’ 40-man roster is now complete.
Carson Kelly, 30, has had a solid career in the majors, hitting .224 with 54 home runs and 207 RBIs over 556 games. He has played for the St. Louis Cardinals (2016-18), Arizona Diamondbacks (2019-23), Detroit Tigers (2023-24), and Texas Rangers (2024). Kelly made his major league debut on September 5, 2016, in Pittsburgh, where he recorded his first career hit, a double, in his only plate appearance.
Since 2019, Kelly has caught 461 games, the 10th most in the majors. His .995 fielding percentage (minimum 300 games) also ranks 10th. Remarkably, from September 23, 2021, to April 20, 2024, Kelly went 172 consecutive games without committing an error. In 2023, he was the only catcher in the majors to not record an error, and one of just five in 2022.
In 2024, Kelly batted .238 with nine doubles, one triple, nine home runs, and 37 RBIs in 91 games split between Detroit (60 games) and Texas (31 games), following a trade on July 28. His .996 fielding percentage ranked third among American League catchers (minimum 80 games), and his 26.3% caught-stealing rate was sixth.
A Chicago native, Kelly was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the second round of the 2012 draft. He played in the 2016 MLB Futures Game and was ranked as the No. 39 prospect by MLB.com before the 2017 season as a member of the Cardinals’ farm system.
