Merrill Kelly's Cautious Return

0:00It's April 5th. Welcome in. This is MLB News Today, where the game meets AI. I'm Cory with the story. Merrill Kelly's season debut with the D-backs just got delayed again. No major setback though. The 37-year-old Ridey crushed a rehab star Friday in Triple A Reno, but manager Tori LeVolo announced Sunday he's doing another one. Thursday, an extended spring training. Kelly went five scoreless innings up there, scattered two hits and walks, notched two strikeouts, and ramped his pitch count to 72 while. Facing 20 batters. Velocity matched his numbers from last year, and he felt sharp, but the team's prioritizing a slow build. LeVolo's all about health first. Plain and simple. Once Kelly locked in for the full season, not risking steps back. Since joining in 2019, he's been the rotations anchor, logging over 30 starts in four of six full years and ranking 16th in. Baseball for starts in innings since then. That reliability helps land him a fresh two-year 40 million dollar deal in December, right

1:05after a trade deadline flip to the Rangers. LeVolo knows Kelly's itching to compete, but this extra caution keeps their better and ace primed for another 30 plus outings. D-back starters sit second in the national league with a 3.04 ERA without him, crushing top lineups from the Dodgers, Tigers, and Braves. That's waiting when he's fully ramped. No shuffling needed for this elite arm.