MLB · C · Chicago Cubs
Carson Kelly
B/T R/R · 6' 1" · 212 lb · born Chicago, IL, USA · age 32 · draft 2012 rd 2 · played C 87, DH 6, 1B 4, P 3 · MLB debut 2016-09-05
Last 14 days (through 2026-08-29): 8 G · .214 AVG · 1 HR · 2 RBI · .624 OPS
372 plate appearances & 13 batters faced scored this season His season card →
Scout’s note
Carson Kelly is a Chicago-born catcher, drafted in the second round back in 2012, now catching for the Cubs at 32. Over his last eight games he has no home runs, one walk, and eight strikeouts — a quiet stretch at the plate.
Note written · FVR scout (GLM-5.2)
Where he stands
throughAgainst the 382 qualified major-league hitters — 100+ balls in play this season, the same field the boards are chosen out of. Right is better on every row.
- EV95104.734
- Deserved (xVal)0.34831
- Got (aVal)0.34642
- Luck gap (park-adjusted)flipped0.00538
today · 30 days ago, against the 341 men who qualified then · the tick is the midpoint · the number at the right is the percentile, the number beside it the measurement itself.
What he’s paid
Under contractA market fact, not an engine read: what a club decided about him, on the season before this one. Figures from Cot’s, as of .
- 2026 salary
- $5.00M
- Tax hit
- $5.75M
- Service time
- 7 yr 161 d
- Guaranteed
- $12M
The deal 2 years $11.5M (2025–2026) — $5.8M a year on average, worked out by us rather than stated on the sheet, and not the same thing as the tax hit above
On the sheet: 2 y/$11.5M (25-26) · agent Apex Baseball · 1 / 3 options left
After this season, as the sheet has it
| Season | 2027 |
|---|---|
| Cash | $1.5M |
| Tax hit | — |
Cash and the tax hit are two different rulebooks and are never subtracted from one another — see the payroll board for his club, Chicago Cubs.
A second set of books
The same contract, read by MLB Spreadsheets (Ethan Hullihen), as of . We keep two sources on this because one source cannot check itself.
- Tax AAV
- $5.8M
- Guaranteed
- $11.5M
- Term
- 2 yrs
What the sheet prices each season at
| Season | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Salary | $5.0M | $7.5M |
A base salary under his own reading, and never subtracted from the cash figure above: a signing bonus lands in one and not the other, so the two disagree on most men without either being wrong. And the sheet does not mark which future seasons are GUARANTEED — a club option and a projected arbitration award are both just a number here, so read past the end of the deal as his forecast rather than as money owed.
Two sources, read a month apart, put this guarantee at the same dollar. That is the check, and it passed.
The tax AAV above is his number under the CBA’s own rulebook, not the average we work out from Cot’s total. On a contract with deferred money the two come apart on purpose — and neither is subtracted from the other.
Collect Carson Kelly
If the signal is right, the cardboard usually finds out later. Current listings:
Carson Kelly cards on eBay →Paid link — as an eBay Partner, FVR earns from qualifying purchases.
Not financial advice. We take positions only after publication — never before. Misses stay on the record.
The Bureau on Carson Kelly
The scouting press, in their own words
Michael Conforto and Carson Kelly go back-to-back with HRs to haunt their former team in the 6th inning. Cubs 5, D-backs 0 in the 6th.
Umpire favor
+0.7 net runs over 36 graded games — the zone was kind to the umpire on balance.
The line
Bio & season lines: MLB StatsAPI · refreshed nightly · abbreviations →