Ty Kelly has accomplished a rare feat; picking up an already solid .267 average 100 points in the second month of the season.
At the end of April he was 12-for-45, but so far in May he has hit in every game (28-for-64, a .438 clip) to place his .367 mark among the league leaders. Included in that string was a 5-for-5 mark on Tuesday against Lakewood; a game where Ty cracked his first home run of the season.
Aside from changing his uniform number, Ty has been the same steady performer as he was here in 2010 – just at a higher level. You may recall his decent Shorebird numbers from last year – a .259 average with 4 homers, 58 runs batted in, and a .721 OPS mark – and the fact he played in all but 11 of the team’s 140 games last year.
This year Ty sat out a few April games as the Shorebirds’ infield is loaded with prospects, but since getting regular playing time in the absence of megaprospect Manny Machado Kelly has taken advantage of the situation and it will be hard to keep him out of the lineup when Manny returns. This despite the fact Ty was only a 13th round pick in 2009 out of Cal-Davis.
Since Ty doesn’t turn 23 until later this season, he may find himself making a run at piling up some of the numbers he compiled last season, a campaign where he paced the team in a number of offensive categories. Obviously the competition in that regard has improved this season, so it appears Kelly has stepped up his game to match.