Merrill Kelly didn’t just come back to Arizona — he returned with purpose. After a stint with the Texas Rangers and a handful of offers elsewhere, the right-hander chose the one destination that mattered most: home.
“Not only am I excited to play for the D-backs again, but I’m also excited for my family,” said Kelly, who was traded to the Rangers on July 31, 2025.
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“My wife (Bre) is from here, and her whole family’s here. This makes things a lot more controllable, a lot more comfortable for us.”
On Dec. 19, 2025, Kelly inked a two-year, $40 million contract with the D-backs, a deal that felt less like a transaction and more like a homecoming handshake. The familiar faces in the front office, the trusted trainers, and an optimistic clubhouse nudged him back to the desert.
“They’re competitive,” Kelly said about his teammates. “Just go back to 2023, making the run of the World Series. In 2024, we missed the playoffs by, literally, one game. Obviously, they had a really good push at the end of last year and almost snuck in there again.
“It’s the same core group of guys, plus a couple of good additions among the pitching prospects they’ve acquired.”
In terms of veterans, Corbin Burnes is expected to return from Tommy John surgery toward the end of the season.
“He can make a handful of starts and help us push toward the end,” Kelly explained. “That’s beneficial to the team. I know the training staff, and they know my arm, my body, and they know how I work probably harder than most people.”
Kelly said his stint with the Texas Rangers was an educational peek behind another team’s curtain. Watching how another club’s training crew operated, how its travel staff kept the team humming, and how its pitching department engineered its training gave him a fresh appreciation for the many ways a big‑league team can run its show.
“It was good for me to explore somewhere else going into free agency,” Kelly explained. “I had, at least, a sample size of somewhere other than Arizona.”
At 37, Kelly is a veteran of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He is reserved, not one to give unsolicited advice to his younger teammates. Kelly chooses to “lead by example, instead.”
“I feel like I need to be comfortable with somebody to do that,” Kelly added. “I have the most interaction with the younger starting pitchers. Ryne Nelson and Brandon Pfaadt come to mind.
“They picked my brain a lot, and we’ve gotten a lot closer. I think those relationships have grown a lot. I enjoy being able to offer what I have. I’m the type of person who doesn’t really know how much I should offer, how much I should be offering, or how much my experience really matters to other people. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or bad thing.”
Kelly hopes that his rare pieces of advice are helpful to the younger players. His experiences playing in Korea and fighting his way to the MLB, and his recovery from thoracic outlet syndrome are noted.
“I’m definitely closer to the end of my career than the beginning,” he said. “Moving forward, especially these last couple years, I really want to help whoever I can. Not only just for pitching
“I feel like my journey is a bit different than a lot of people who are in my position. I’ve done a bunch of different roles. I’ve obviously played in a bunch of different places. I had different adversities than the majority of baseball players.”
His family’s thrilled to be back in the Valley. Korean cuisine has become an occasional stop, indulged in “probably a little more than we should,” Kelly joked. “We don’t venture out much unless we have to,” he said at first. “I’m a big golfer. If I do go somewhere, at least on my own, it’s usually the golf course.
“We found a couple spots that we really like. There’s a place in Mesa, Jin BBQ, [near Mekong Plaza] that we like. There’s an H Mart, which is a big Korean grocery store. It’s good to be back.”
Spring Training is approaching. Pitchers and catchers’ first workout is Tuesday, Feb. 10. The entire squad takes to the field on Sunday, Feb. 15.
