The Chicago White Sox's bullpen has slowly been figuring it out game after game. Overall, they have been one of the worst bullpens in all of baseball but it has been good to see them perform well enough to win baseball games for the club.
Garrett Crochet just recently got activated off the injured list which is excellent news and what's even better than that is the exceptional season Joe Kelly is producing.
Joe Kelly has been performing at an efficient rate in 2023. Whether it's his 100-mile-per-hour sinker that runs through the zone or his 92-95 mile-per-hour knuckle curve that strikes out hitters, it has been a treat for White Sox fans to watch.
Joe Kelly, Sick 99mph Two Seamer with 22 inches of Run 😯 pic.twitter.com/ignS7IBQWI
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 18, 2023
Kelly is entering his eleventh season in the major leagues. After a rocky first season with the White Sox last year due to injury/command issues, it's safe to say the right-handed flamethrower is back where he needs to be.
Joe Kelly has been very good for the 2023 White Sox at this point.
In 11 appearances this season, Kelly has a 3.18 earned run average with 16 strikeouts through 11.1 innings pitched.
He is giving opposing hitters an adamant time finding any hard contact and it's due to his relentless/variant different types of wind-ups.
Kelly switches his wind-up every single pitch. On one pitch, he will kick his leg four times. On the next pitch, he slide-steps right after coming set.
He confuses hitters and when he consistently throws strikes to go along with it, he's unhittable.
Joe Kelly last 7 outings:
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) May 18, 2023
7.2 IP, 1 Hit, 0 Runs, 0 Walks, 12 Strikeouts
Kelly hasn't given up a run in the month of May and he has been a critical piece to the White Sox's bullpen throughout all of 2023 thus far.
The team's bullpen has had a horrible season. Still, with the return of Crochet and the soon-to-be-returned Liam Hendriks, it may shape up to be a lockdown type of bullpen for the rest of the season if they remain healthy and continue doing what they have been the last week or so.
The bullpen needs to stay intact for this White Sox season to survive and have a shot in a bad AL Central division.
Their chances for playoff baseball are still somehow very much alive and with Kelly being one of the guys controlling the crew in the pen, it can give them a constant boost that they will need defensively in close games during late innings of play.