Chat Room Session of March 6th with guest - Mr. David Kelly

[BleacherBum593]

Following is the edited chat room session of Tuesday, March 6, 2007. The guest was Mr. David Kelly, one of the announcer’s for the Memphis Redbirds. The Redbirds are the triple A farm club of the St Louis Cardinals.


BleacherBum593 I’d like to welcome one of the announcers of the Memphis Redbirds to FanHome - Mr. David Kelly. David thanks for taking time out of your schedule to join us this afternoon.

David Kelly My pleasure.

BleacherBum593 David, you come from a professional sports family. Your father, Leroy Kelly, was a running back for the Cleveland Browns from 1964-73 and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Your late uncle, Pat Kelly, was a 15-year Major League Baseball outfielder with five American League teams. Your mother, Jacqueline, was a TV news anchor/reporter in Denver, Lansing, MI and Bloomington, IL.

BleacherBum593 Were you old enough to remember seeing your father “wreck” mayhem on the old football St Louis Cardinals? Between him and Jimmy Brown running amok, it created some looooong afternoons for the Cards.

David Kelly Not really. My father stopped playing when I was seven years old. I remember small pieces of his last season in the NFL 1973. I grew up more around baseball, because my uncle played in the bigs until 1981. When I was learning about sports, my uncle was with the White Sox and then Orioles so that was kind of cool as a kid. My love of baseball comes from watching my uncle play. Tragically he passed away of a heart attack in October of 2005.

BleacherBum593 Did your uncle take you to "work" with him and allow you to experience life in the bigs?

David Kelly You bet, but not extensively. My father would take me and my cousin Brian down to Baltimore for weekend series and we would get to hang out and stuff during batting practice, but I never actually set in dugout during a game. We knew all the O's of the late 0s...Singelton, Murray, Belanger, Dauer, Palmer, McGregor, Flanagan, Stone, May. That 79 AL Championship teams has always been my favorite.

David Kelly Me and my dad were at a game in Cleveland once and Eddie Murray got ejected. He went in showered and then came and sat with my father and I in the family section. Steve Stone was from Cleveland. His mom was like the "section mother". She took care of everybody.

BleacherBum593 You’re about to start your second season with the Redbirds. How did you and the Redbirds get together?

David Kelly This is actually my third season with the Birds. I applied for the job back in Feb. 2005 when I heard that Tom Stocker was leaving. I was doing local radio at home in Cleveland, but had always looked for the opportunity to get back into baseball. I had met Steve Selby from our days in the Southern League so I knew at least he would know who I was. I sent my package. They called and asked me to fly down and interview. I studied up on the franchise and was very prepared going in. I knew all about the non-profit status and the foundation. I think they were also looking for someone with major market radio experience who could handle our extended home pre-game show "On Deck Tonight". I think I fit the bill there. It worked out and I couldn't be more thrilled.

BleacherBum593 The 2006 was pretty rough for the Redbird fans as the team finished 20+ games below .500 and several changes were made - Danny Sheaffer and Tommy Gregg were dismissed and Chris Maloney has been promoted from Springfield to manage the club and David Eckstein’s brother Rick has been hired as a hitting coach. Are you familiar with either of them?

David Kelly I'm not real familiar with Chris (Hammer) but I hear he's a good guy to work with. Rick was with New Orleans last season as a coach so I've seen him in action, but don't really know him that well. I think I talked with him briefly last season. He kept a low profile. Hopefully, some new blood will be good for the club, but you still need the players and we really didn't have a talented collection last season.

BleacherBum593 On paper, at least, the Redbirds looked pretty solid last year. Can you put a finger on the reason the team lost so many games? Lack of hustle? Personalities?

David Kelly We couldn't hit! We were 16th in the league for most of the season. There were no real RBI threats. John Gall got off to a fast start and we still lost nine in a row. Daubach was hurt and slowed early. Duncan seemed to struggle when he was with us. Nelson had power, but his strikeouts were high. The pitching actually wasn't that bad overall, but the offense killed us. And when you dig yourself a 0-9 hole - that's just a lot to try and recover from.

BleacherBum593 From where you sit in the broadcast booth, can you tell the difference between a good AAA player and one who's going to make it in the major leagues? Can you point to things we fans should take into account when evaluating these players?

David Kelly It's not easy to pinpoint those things. In hitters I think you are looking for guys who can work counts and are patient. They don't let the good pitches go by and they lay off the bad ones. When they hit the ball are they hitting it crisply. Solid hits as we sometimes say. A lot of times like in any job it's about opportunity. Is a club going to give a good Triple-A player a chance to play and see if he can survive at the big league level. Pitching I think is sometimes easier to spot. Is he aggressive around the plate, does he get ahead of hitters and when he does can he put a hitter away. Is he accurate in the lower-half of the zone, in order to get groundball outs... does he have a strikeout pitch.

David Kelly Look at a guy like former Cardinal Emil Brown, who bounced around forever until he got to the Royals and they gave him a chance to play everyday. Now he's no All-Star but, he's capable of being a decent everyday major leaguer and nowadays that's worth $3 million.

BleacherBum593 It looks like the Redbirds will have a “younger” look to it this season than last as the Cardinals promote some of their younger prospects to Memphis. Even though a decision has not been made on who’ll make up the Memphis roster this summer, as a fan, who are some of the players that your looking forward to seeing at Memphis this summer?

David Kelly We saw a bit of Brendan Ryan at the end of last year. I think he's going to be a whole lot of fun to watch. Blake Hawksworth is continuing on the comeback trails so he's another I'm looking forward to seeing. Travis Hanson is intriguing from the standpoint of his struggles last season. I'm not sure we saw the real Hanson, so that's a big story line this year. Mark Worrell and the funky windup. It's seemed to work for him to this point, so he'll be interesting to watch. If Stuart Pomeranz arrives, that will be huge because he's a homeboy and Chris Lambert, once promising prospect who has fallen on hard times. Can he rebound and pitch his way back into the picture?

BleacherBum593 From what we've heard, part of Travis Hanson's poor start at Memphis last year was due to his health. Did you know at the time about his health problems? What positives -- if any -did you see in his brief Memphis stay?

David Kelly I was aware he had been sick and missed time in spring, but I don't believe we ever knew the extent of it, with that being parasites. He never really talked about it effecting. Most players wouldn't. They're not ones to make excuses. Travis if anything is a hard worker. He was always in the cage working and trying to improve. He's a great kid to be around and absolutely there were benefits to him being here. He knows what to expect now. He's seen what it takes to compete at this level. Now it's just a matter of can he stay healthy and translate that 05 success to Triple-A.

BleacherBum593 Last season both Falkenborg and Kinney pitched at Memphis and both were called up to St Louis. Can you talk briefly about the differences in their style of pitching? And then could you comment on what Falkenborg -- who was retained on the 40-man roster -- needs to do to make himself better? Or is it more about having an opportunity come his way?

David Kelly I think the biggest difference is the dominant out pitch. Kinney has that dynamite slider that he can just use to strikeout players. Falkenborg competes and gets outs, but I'm not sure he has that go to pitch to get that strikeout when you need a strikeout. That doesn't mean he can't compete at the big league level, but Kinney just has that ability to keep hitters from putting the bat on the ball. I think one of the more amazing stats I saw last year from Josh was during his first tour he faced Andruw Jones three times and struck him out all three times. I believe the Cardinals see Falkenborg as an emergency guy who they can call up and plug a hole with if injuries arise. He has the experience and he's got the demeanor. He was solid all season for us until the final month when he battled some nagging injuries.

BleacherBum593 At this point, I'll open the floor to the audience for their Q's. I know we have 1 Redbirds season ticket holder and another who sees quite a few games every year in Memphis.

ArRedbird Mr. Kelly, thanks for answering questions -- and those really good insights on what to watch for with AAA players.

David Kelly Thanks. I love this level of baseball because of the mix of young guys trying to get there and the vets trying to get back. It sometimes makes it transient because you tend to have a lot of roster shuffle, but the intensity level sometimes is phenomenal. I do our post-game interviews so most nights I sit down stairs for the end of the game. I can remember one night we were in Fresno and you had two teams that were a combined 30-games under .500 but the intensity level of wanting to win was so high you'd of thought they were in a one-game playoff to make the post season.

BleacherBum593 Another 2006 holdover for this year should be SS John Nelson. SInce Brendan Ryan is slotted to be the starting SS, what role do you see Big John in?

David Kelly That's a great question about Nelson. He has so much power potential that I would love to even see him possibly be re-made as an outfielder. He's got a strong arm and is athletic enough to adapt. I just don't see him as a utility guy so I'm not sure what his role is for this season.

BleacherBum593 I believe Nelson played one year in CF before they moved him back to SS. So it wouldn't be unheard of. However, Memphis could be loaded in OF talent this year with Ankiel, Stavinoha, Negron, Schumaker (possibly), Haerther, Ludwick, Gorecki. Big uphill battle if he converts. And I'm probably missing someone off the top of my head

Coop David, I say Hi! to you some at the ballpark. Thanks for your Comments here today. I try to follow the Cardinal organization players all I can. Please continue trying to let us know about the Cardinal organization players on your broadcasts on 560 AM WHBQ. I'm not that interested in hearing about all the other stuff. Thank you.

David Kelly Coop. Great to hear from you. We generally hit our organizational updates in the pre-game show. Steve does a daily recap of all the teams and what happened to night before. Check in earlier for that.

ArRedbird Have you gone down to Florida to preview the team?

David Kelly We all go down to Florida in about two weeks. Steve and I will head down on the 21st and stay through the 25th. It gives us five full days to experience Jupiter and all that it has to offer. Most of our club right now is still in big league camp, so by then we'll have a better idea of who is going to be with us. Then it's back to Memphis to finish preparation for the two exhibition games with the big club.

David Kelly Ryan Ludwick should be our BIG BIRD this season. I'm looking forward to that. Ryan played in the Indians chain when I was in Cleveland. He's been slowed by injuries but rebounded nicely and played a full season last year in Toledo. He and Tagg Bozied should provide some punch in the middle of the order.

David Kelly and that's the problem for Nelson. Pencil in Ankiel, Ludwick, who can also DH, but we play way more NL games, Schumaker/Rodriguez, there are just so many good candidates. Schu, Ankiel, Ludwick is a good outfield in my opinion.

BleacherBum593 But a good problem for the Memphis org to have.

ArRedbird And if we think of shifting Nelson to 3rd, he's got Hanson and Washington to beat out.

BleacherBum593 Speaking of OF's - Update on Haerther - he passed his CT scan today and should be swinging a bat this weekend.

David Kelly I like Rico. He struggled when he first came up. I think he is more suited for a utility role, than Nelson, but you just keep saying to yourself there has to be a place for a guy who can hit 20+ plus home runs.

ArRedbird Good news on Cody! And -- I like Washington too -- he's a bit undersized, but he quietly gets the job done.

David Kelly I'm interested to see Edgar V. Gonzalez. I hear he's off to a great start. He appears to be our second baseman, but who knows that could be Nelson too.

ArRedbird Or Cabrera if he doesn't make the major-league squad could also be in the mix for 2nd/middle inf.

David Kelly I wonder if they would send Cabrera down or release him. I saw him as a make it or release candidate at the beginning, but his stock has grown with all the middle infield injuries (Eckstein and Kennedy).

ArRedbird Agreed on Cabrera's value, now with Eck and Kennedy with oblique strains.

BleacherBum593 Personally, I'd take Cabrera over Miles for the backup slot for the Cards based on what I saw out of Miles last year.

ArRedbird Me too and he's gotten to play some SS this spring too.

ArRedbird What about Schumaker? What else can he do to convince someone that he needs to play CF in the majors every day?

David Kelly Skip needs to stay consistent at the plate. If he continues to hit .300 there will be a place for him on some bodies roster. He's a very good defender. The only think I 'd like to Skip do more of his bunt and be more aggressive on the bases.

ArRedbird Yeah, use that speed of his -- he'll never be a 20 HR guy, but he can do so many other things. I thought the Marlins or somebody else needing a CF would have tried to snatch him away from the Cards by now.

David Kelly The Marlins already have the Eric Reed kid who in my mind is almost a carbon copy of Skip except he does all those other things I'd like to see Skip do. Bunt and Steal bases.

ArRedbird Right, I was just trying to find his name -- Mr. Kelly, you're right about that Reed kid in Florida.

Coop We have so many good pitchers this spring. I know we won't know until after March 31, but do you have an idea about some of them flying to St. Louis and those staying with us in Memphis?

David Kelly Hard to say for sure, but Hawksworth, Parisi, Cate, Narveson, Worrell, Dove, Cavazos and Keisler will likely all be in Memphis. The other three or four I couldn't tell you for sure.

ArRedbird I'd add Mike Smith to your list of possibles for Memphis too.

BleacherBum593 Jimenez is another that is impressing at Spring Training Camp. So he could be a candidate.

Coop I appreciate your mention of Hawksworth, Parisi, Cate, Narveson, Worrell, Dove, Cavazos, & Keisler. I always think about that kind of information. They are discussed a lot on the forums.

ArRedbird What's the most excited you've been in the broadcast booth?

David Kelly Final games of 1995 season at Double-A Port City. We had lost like 80-something games and rallied to score twice in the bottom of the 9th to win at home. A great way to cap off a season. As a Redbird, I got to call five of our six walkoff wins at Auto Zone Park last year. The best being in late August on a double-down the right field line by Shawn Garrett scoring Bo Hart from first base to be beat Nashville.

ArRedbird I was at that game, listening to your call on the radio. That was a good win. I thought Bo was never going to get to the plate!

BleacherBum593 5 out of 6 huh? Maybe we need Coop to drag Mr. Selby out the booth for the final inning

David Kelly Steve's though might have been the most dramatic. That was the day that Rose and Hart went back to back in the 16th to beat Colorado Springs.

BleacherBum593 I'm going to paraphrase AARP's question - For the last few years, the Cards have signed AAAA pitchers for Memphis. Has the tide now turned whereby we'll be seeing more of our "in-house" pitchers at Memphis?

David Kelly I think you are always going to have AAAA pitchers on your (AAA) roster because at this level you need that experience. Now how much of your rotation is prospect will vary from year to year. I think most years you'll see a 3-2 mix either way (prospect/veteran). I don't know if you can survive in this league with four or more prospects in your starting rotation.

ArRedbird Any changes in AutoZone for 2007? I was thinking specifically of a new radar gun and a bb/k counter. (how many pitches are strikes)

BleacherBum593 They added that to Busch III and it's really a nice feature to look up and see how many pitch's have been thrown and the # of balls and strikes. Now if they would make it easier to read.....

David Kelly A new gun would be nice. I have not heard of that though. We're sprucing it up a bit for MLB. I'd love the bb/k counter and a running pitch count board. Steve keeps pitch counts, I did in college and then I had an old grizzly big league broadcaster tell me I didn't need to do that, so I haven't since. It's good though that one of us does so we have relatively accurate information.

Coop Yeah, We have such a great park, but I never liked sitting on the 1B side of ballparks. Now our speed-reading is on the LF wall. I know you don't have anything to do about that but I tell everybody, I get whiplash watching the pitch and trying to catch the speed.

ArRedbird Do you keep your own stats/scorebook? Or does someone else help out?

David Kelly I keep me own book. You have to in baseball. That's like your lifeline. I could never have someone writing in my scorebook because every broadcaster has his own baseball language.

ArRedbird Great. I'm glad you take pride in that. Any suggestions for 16 inning games?

David Kelly For me a single to right is noted 1-R. If Reyes has just recorded his fourth strikeout its K-4

ArRedbird That's simple, clean, easy to read -- good suggestion.

David Kelly flyout to left-center (with the centerfielder catching the ball) is F-87

David Kelly 16 innings game are tough. My book only goes to 12 innings, but I have an extended blank space at the end of each player line that allows my to build innings continuously if I need to.

ArRedbird LOL -- yeah, those long games get me to looking for every piece of blank space I can find! And when they empty the benches and bullpen, it's even harder.

David Kelly Most broadcaster keep a daily log for there players that allows us to spot hitting and pitching trends. Like last year Josh Kinney didn't allow an earned run in 22 1/3 innings and he recorded at least one strikeout in 24 straight appearances.

ArRedbird I seem to recall your mentioning Kinney's stats. I like those trend-things. Hitters too.

ArRedbird Serious Q: what's your opinion of the catching in Memphis. Seems like after Yadi the upper organization is a little thin.

David Kelly You're right catching has been thin. I hear Bryan Anderson is the next prospect on that side. We had both Gabe Johnson and Dan Moylan in the last two seasons, but there were mostly just reserve replacements. Anderson is probably still a year or two away from us

AARP'ER David, Memphis has basketball and baseball downtown now, anything new on the drawing board for the downtown area?

David Kelly The biggest thing now going up in downtown Memphis is this high-rise condo on Madison Ave, (about two blocks from the ballpark). The condo’s are starting at $200K. It's Manhattan style. The upper floors will have elevator access to where the elevator opens right into your home. I believe it's called the Goodwyn. I'd love to get a place there if I win the Powerball tomorrow.

AARP'ER If I win I'll send you a postcard from Hawaii

BleacherBum593 Powerball is nothing this week. Mega Millions in Illinois is up to 355,000,000. If I win, I'll take everyone here to Hawaii.

David Kelly That's right I did see that on TV. Gotta call Mom back in Cleveland and make sure she plays.

BleacherBum593 One other suggestion before we get done. Is it possible to get game day notes on your site - similar to what Springfield and Quad Cities does?

David Kelly I'm not sure about the Game Day notes thing, but if the others are doing it. I'll talk with Kyle P, our media guy, and see if we can start that up this season.

BleacherBum593 I know we're starting to push close to the top of the hour, so I want to make sure that I get in a BIG THANK YOU to David for making this a very memorable session. Lots of good tidbits that our readers will love to see/read. Thanks for your time David. Maybe you could find the time to join us from Jupiter?

ArRedbird Ditto. I very much appreciate your informative answers & insights.

Coop Thank you.

David Kelly I'd love to chat with you guys again. It's been a fun experience.

ArRedbird Come back anytime

David Kelly Great guys. Thanks and as I like to say when the ball clears the fence..."Goodnight Irene"!




Links to previous chats:
John Vuch
John Vuch (followup questions)
Cody Haerther
Mike Lindskog
Kyle McClellan
Dave Chase




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