HOUSTON — Oakland Athletics pitcher Michael Kelly was declared ineligible for one year Tuesday for betting on baseball while he was in the minor leagues.
While Kelly is on the A’s active roster, he was once part of the Houston Astros’ Triple-A team in Sugar Land.
He is one of five Major League Baseball players disciplined on Tuesday morning.
The most notable suspension was that of San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano, who was permanently banned from MLB.
Kelly was one of four players who received a one-year suspension. Minor leaguers Jay Groome of San Diego, José Rodríguez of Philadelphia, and Andrew Saalfrank of Arizona were banned for one year for betting on major league games.
According to MLB.com, betting data shows that from Oct. 5, 2021, through Oct. 17, 2021, Kelly, who at the time was a minor league player assigned to the Sugar Land team, placed 10 bets involving nine MLB games, including bets on the outcomes, over/under bets on the number of runs scored and on an individual pitcher’s strikeout total. Three of the nine games on which Kelly placed bets involved the Astros.
Kelly’s account bet $99.22 on MLB games, MLB.com reported. Overall, he won five of the MLB game bets and had a net win of $28.30 on the bets.
The league said it was tipped off about the betting activity by a legal sports betting operator. None of the players punished played in any games on which they wagered, and all players denied to MLB they had inside information relevant to their bets or the games they bet on – testimonies that MLB says align with the data received from the sportsbook.
“The strict enforcement of Major League Baseball’s rules and policies governing gambling conduct is a critical component of upholding our most important priority: protecting the integrity of our games for the fans,” Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “The longstanding prohibition against betting on Major League Baseball games by those in the sport has been a bedrock principle for over a century. We have been clear that the privilege of playing in baseball comes with a responsibility to refrain from engaging in certain types of behavior that are legal for other people."
Major League Rule 21, posted in every clubhouse, states betting on any baseball game in which a player, umpire, league official or team employee has no duty to perform results in a one-year suspension. Betting on a game in which the person has a duty to perform results in a lifetime ban.
