Courtesy photo
When you watch kids playing in high school, you have no idea what the future may hold. Certainly, you don’t envision them striking out New York Yankees with the bases loaded or coaching the Los Angeles Lakers.
I consider myself very lucky to have seen two of the area’s best compete in the high school ranks – Lord Botetourt graduate Zack Kelly and Cave Spring’s JJ Redick. It’s not like I saw this coming, but it’s fun looking back.
Let’s take Kelly, who played baseball for LB and is now coming out of the bullpen for the Boston Red Sox. I asked longtime Cavalier coach Todd Smith if he looked at Zack as a future major leaguer when he donned the red and gray of LB.
“Possibly as a hitter, maybe, but not a pitcher,” said Smith. “He’s worked really hard to get where he is today.”
Kelly is one of Boston’s most reliable relief pitchers. Through Monday he appeared in 21 games with 29 and a third innings pitched. He has a 2-1 record, four holds and an outstanding earned run average of 1.53. His WHIP, which is figured by combining walks and hits allowed and dividing by innings pitch, is just 0.92. Anything under 1.00 is considered exceptional, as Zack has allowed 14 hits and 13 walks over close to 30 innings.
Kelly has 32 strikeouts, an average of over one per inning, and opposing batters are hitting just .136 when he’s on the mound. He hasn’t given up an earned run since June 12, a span of nine and a third innings and seven games.
Perhaps his signature game of the year came on June 16 against the Yankees at Fenway Park. The Sox were up 4-2 in the top of the seventh but the Yanks had the bases loaded and no one out when manager Alex Cora signaled for Kelly. Zack struck out Gleyber Torres and Jose Trevino, both swinging, then got DJ LeMahieu to fly out to center to end the inning unscathed. The Sox scored three in the bottom of the inning and went on to win, 9-3, but Kelly’s performance was the highlight of the game. Zack had some friends from the Roanoke Valley drive to Boston for the game and they enjoyed time on the field after the big win.
Kelly, who was inducted into the Lord Botetourt High School Hall of Fame in 2023, has worked hard to get to this point. He’s battled several injuries and had pitched just 23 innings in the big leagues prior to this season. Last year he appeared in eight games with a 3.86 ERA and spent a weekend in Salem the first week of September rehabbing with the Salem Red Sox.
Now an established big leaguer, Zack recently got his own bobblehead. On June 22 the Salem Red Sox gave away Zack Kelly bobbles to fans while Zack’s mother, Tracy Kelly, threw out the first ball. Zack couldn’t make it, as he was busy picking up the win in a 4-3 victory over the Reds in Cincinnati that evening.
Photos by Brian Hoffman
And then you have JJ Redick, who was recently named head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. While Kelly was somewhat of a surprise to make the big show in baseball, Redick was destined for big things at a young age. But head coach of LeBron James and the LAKERS?!!!
I’ve been around for a while, and I can remember some hype about JJ prior to his freshman season at Cave Spring. I went to an early season Knights’ game with the attitude, “Okay, big guy, let’s see if you’re as good as they say.”
Well, he was. I left the gym thinking this was one of the best freshman basketball players I’d ever seen, at least live.
People ask me sometimes if so-and-so is a Division I player. I usually tell them, if you have to ask he’s probably not. When you see a JJ, a George Lynch or a Richard Morgan, you don’t have to ask that question. You just ask where, and you get Duke, UNC and Virginia.
Area basketball fans know all about JJ; Coach K coming to the gym at Cave Spring, fighting off foot pain to lead his team to a state championship, signing to play for Duke. After a great run with the Blue Devils he goes to the NBA for a solid career with several teams, playing in 940 games over 15 seasons. I went to see him play for the Clippers in Charlotte, and I saw him play for the Sixers in Philly. There was no denying he could shoot it with the best of them.
If that’s not enough, he becomes the top analyst on the ESPN broadcast team for NBA games, a job not many would leave. Unless, of course, you’re offered the head coaching job of one of the NBA’s premier franchises. People wonder how he’ll do. I have no reason to believe he won’t be anything short of terrific.
Pretty cool, isn’t it, to have two guys we saw grow up playing on the biggest stage of their sport? Makes you wonder who will be next.
