Carson Kelly is proving his doubters wrong with his latest offensive heroics

If there’s one thing Chicago Cubs fans love, it’s turning veteran contributors into fan-favorite icons. First, there was Frank Schwindel, who gave light to Cubs fans in the darkness following the infamous 2021 Trade Deadline. Then came the Summer of Mike Tauchman, with the outfielder rejuvenating his MLB career as a fourth outfielder in 2023.

This time around, Cubs fans were treated to the Spring of Carson Kelly, as the 30-year-old went from a seemingly defensive-minded catcher signing to dominating the entire league in the batter’s box.

Kelly seemingly did it all, immediately introducing himself to Cubs fans with the team’s first cycle since 1993 in April. Many assumed he would cool down eventually, but Kelly simply kept hitting, finishing the month of April with an absurd OPS of 1.256. 

However, spring would give way to summer, as a disastrous month of May would bring Kelly back down to earth. Kelly finished the month with a .203 batting average, recording only four extra-base hits across the entire month. An ill-timed injury for Miguel Amaya meant the Cubs were forced to primarily start the struggling Kelly at catcher as he continued to search for the power that dominated the league just two months ago.

After a rough stretch, Kelly appears to have found his game once again

Kelly is once again looking like the player that took the league by storm, clubbing home runs in back-to-back games against the St. Louis Cardinals to bring his OPS in the month of July back to 1.548. It’s a relatively small sample size, but incredibly encouraging considering the lack of production from the catcher position over the last month.

Kelly has managed to stay in the hitting conversation due to his incredible walk and strikeout rates, both of which rank near the top of MLB percentiles according to Baseball Savant, rarely chasing pitches when he’s at the plate. Hitting the ball has not been the issue, simply what he does with it, as evidenced by his 38.7 percent ground ball rate at the moment.

Despite his recent struggles, Kelly has still been worth 2.6 bWAR as we reach the midway point of the season. Considering he was signed primarily to be a backup catcher, those numbers are still miles ahead of what anyone saw coming at the beginning of the season.

With Amaya still out with an oblique strain, the Cubs will be relying on Kelly as the starting catcher for at least a little while longer. The Cubs currently lead all of MLB with a run differential of +126. Should Kelly be able to recapture some of his earlier success, it would give a boost to an already deadly Cubs offense as the team continues to push toward October.