Kevin Kelly a signature away from joining A.S.D. Rimini Pirates
Just like a few other clubs from the Italian Baseball League, A.S.D. Rimini Pirates will acquire a player from the Dutch hoofdklasse. Will… because the contract hasn’t been signed yet. If everything goes according to plan, Kevin Kelly will sign tomorrow to join Rimini for the 2018 season.
Kelly won’t be the first player from the Dutch kingdom who will join the Pirates. Phildrick Llewellyn from Curaçao signed with the club a few weeks ago. Also Fortitudo Bologna signed Gilmer Lampe and T&A San Marino signed Belgian slugger Thomas de Wolf.
Clubs from the Italian Baseball League used to acquire players from South and Central America but thanks to new rules that isn’t as easy as it used to be. Because of those change of the rules, Italian clubs roam the European continent for players. In case 
of the Dutch players, they prefer the ones that do not play in team Kingdom of the Netherlands because those players are paid by the Dutch Olympic Committee. But thanks to European rules, all citizens of the European union must be treated the same, so that means Dutch players will be regarded the same as Italian players. This makes it easy for Italian clubs to roam the Dutch hoofdklasse.
After playing for Southwestern Oklahoma State University and Western Oklahoma State College, Kelly moved to the Netherlands to join Curaçao Neptunus in 2014. From 2014 through 2016 Kelly was used as reliever and was very effective. In those three seasons he posted a 9-3 record with a 1.67 ERA. In 2017 Kelly was used as a starter. In ten starts, he posted a 5-3 record with a 3.68 ERA.
For Kevin the new experience was the main reason to join Rimini. It remains to be seen how Rimini will use him. He is a versatile pitcher but his stats show he is more effective as a reliever.
Kelly’s old club, the reigning European champion Neptunus will organize the European Champions Cup and while Rimini is the current Italian champion, Kelly will return to Rotterdam next season to play at the Neptunus Family Stadium, his former home.