Tigers' Carson Kelly somehow emerging as one of baseball's top offensive catchers

Carson Kelly was unceremoniously dumped by the Diamondbacks late last season, DFA'ed in order to clear space for reliever Bryce Jarvis before being released altogether a few days later. Before Arizona let him go, he'd spent most of the 2023 season on the IL after taking a pitch to the arm and batted .226 with a .581 OPS in just over 30 games.

However, the Tigers saved him from team-less limbo just a few days after the Diamondbacks let him go, DFA'ing Michigan native Eric Haase in favor of Kelly. They signed him through the 2023 season with a club option for 2024, which they exercised even though he struggled through the 19 games he played in Detroit last season.

Going into the 2024 season, the Tigers had a clear plan for Kelly and catcher Jake Rogers — there would be no primary and backup catcher, rather two primaries who alternate turns. Rogers had a promising 2023 season (he hit over 20 home runs and had a .444 slugging), so giving Kelly the same amount of responsibility when he'd never really been able to show up at the plate, was a little questionable.

However, with 53 games under his belt this season, Kelly has become one of the best hitting catchers in the majors, second only to the Angels' Logan O'Hoppe since May 13.

Carson Kelly has surprisingly become one of the most productive catchers in baseball after Tigers saved him from free agent limbo

Kelly was behind the plate calling Jack Flaherty's six-inning, one-run outing on Thursday, in a nice full-circle moment for a battery that used to work together in the Cardinals' farm system (subscription required). Kelly also showed some power at the plate, with a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth to score the Tigers' fourth run in what turned out to be a 10-1 rout of the Guardians.

It was his seventh homer of the season and 28th RBI, putting him miles ahead of Rogers' offensive production in the latter category. O'Hoppe has been enjoying a great season, and he does have a little under 30 more games under his belt than Kelly, but this kind of offense from Kelly is probably a lot more than the Tigers were banking on when they signed him last year.

With major signing Kenta Maeda having already turned into another bust for Detroit, it's nice to know that some of their other additions like Kelly are managing to pull their weight and justify the Tigers' investment in them.