Carson Kelly adds veteran presence to Cubs catching mix

It’s been a busy week on the north side. Not more than a few hours after news broke of the blockbuster trade for outfielder Kyle Tucker last Friday, the Cubs signed veteran catcher Carson Kelly to a two-year, $11.5 million deal.

This is a move meant to add depth at backstop, as Miguel Amaya is expected to catch most of the innings in 2025. Roughly a month ago, the Cubs traded for catcher Matt Thaiss in what appeared to be a similar move, but just a few days after signing Kelly, Thaiss was sent to the White Sox in exchange for cash.

Kelly will bring sturdier defense behind the plate, something the Cubs value, and he has more than twice the major league experience of Thaiss. The Cubs are veteran-heavy at the top of the rotation, but there’s a mix of young arms who should be vying for the back end spots. Kelly should be especially valuable for those guys, and he can draw from learning under catchers like Yadier Molina and Mike Matheny during his years with the Cardinals from 2016-2018 as well as his own experience with the Diamondbacks, Tigers, and Rangers since then.

“I’ve evolved as a player. I’ve learned, I’ve been vulnerable, to try to get as much information as I can,” Kelly said in his introductory press conference on Tuesday. “I think that’s a huge part of it, and I want to be back there for our pitchers.”

There’s also the continued importance of pairing Amaya with a veteran backup. This year was Amaya’s first full season in the majors, and he demonstrated significant growth as a catcher, but taking on the job of managing a full pitching staff is a lot for a young player, something Kelly understands.

“I think back to when I was 25 [and] playing in the big leagues, there’s a lot thrown at you as a player,” Kelly said. “You’re juggling learning the staff, new guys, being at the big league level, and then hitting as well. There’s a lot of attributes and a lot of things that you have to balance.”

Defensively, Kelly is the kind of catcher the Cubs were looking for. He was above average by every metric in 2024, and Statcast’s data had him with a fielding run value of four. Of the 40 catchers ranked by Statcast, less than half have a fielding run value over zero, and by comparison, Amaya’s fielding run value was -4 last season.

This kind of reliability on defense will be especially important in the National League Central, where most of the teams are aggressive on the basepaths. Kelly threw out close to 30% of would-be base stealers last season, which puts him behind only five other catchers in the league.

“You’ve got to be ready to go, especially with the bigger bases and the limited amount of pickoffs, so you gotta be ready to go at all times,” Kelly said. “The big thing is the mindset, where we don’t want them to take that extra 90 [feet]. First having that mindset, then also to the physical action of quickening up your feet, the transfer, things like that. How do we get into a little bit better position to be able to get that ball out of our hand quicker?

“We emphasized a lot of [that] when I was in Detroit and Texas as well, so I’m sure we’ll have a lot of conversations internally when we get to spring training. How do we shave off just tenths, hundreds of a second? That’s what we’re going to go after.”

Joining the Cubs is something of a homecoming for Kelly. He was born in Chicago, and although he grew up in the Pacific Northwest, both of his parents are Chicago natives and his uncle still lives locally.

Like many Cubs fans, Kelly has summer memories of watching games from the Wrigley Field bleachers, so the prospect of putting on the Cubs uniform was part of the appeal when he decided to sign.

“I remember that we would sit in the bleachers,” he said. “You’d wait in line and go up and you’re out there in batting practice trying to catch a ball. I have some pictures of me [as] one of those 10-year-old kids trying to catch a ball.

“It’s special. Wrigley has been there such a long time, and the history, it’s really special. Being there as a visitor is really cool, but I think it will bring up a lot of emotions and a lot of excitement when I put on the home jersey for the first time.”

The trajectory of the Cubs’ offseason shifted significantly last week; trading for Tucker will add much-needed power from the left side of the plate, sending Cody Bellinger to the Yankees creates room in the payroll and in the outfield, and adding Carson Kelly to the catching mix should give the Cubs the right kind of depth to support Amaya’s growth as a backstop.