Former Dodgers Fan Favorite Joe Kelly Returns to Baseball in New Role
Former Dodgers Fan Favorite Joe Kelly Returns to Baseball in New Role
The right-handed reliever, who aborted a comeback attempt last season, has a new job.J.P. Hoornstra|
In this story:
Los Angeles DodgersJoe Kelly kinda sorta announced his retirement from pitching in December, after aborting his comeback ambitions with the Los Angeles Dodgers last season.
For his next act, the 38-year-old pitcher will be a coach.
The Corona High School baseball team announced Tuesday on Instagram that it has hired Kelly as an assistant coach.
"Welcome Home Joe!" the post read. "Joe will be an amazing addition to the coaching staff and will focus on working with our pitchers."
Corona High School is Kelly's alma mater. A native of the Inland Empire, Kelly stayed close to home for college at UC Riverside, then was chosen in the third round of the 2009 MLB Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals.
While pitching for the Dodgers, Kelly continued to make his home in the Inland Empire, so the "homecoming" won't require him to uproot.
Corona High School is also the alma mater of Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel's eldest baseball-playing son. Brady Ebel was the No. 32 pick in the 2025 MLB Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers.
Remarkably, three other Panthers were chosen in last year's draft — pitcher Seth Hernandez (Pittsburgh Pirates, No. 6 overall), shortstop Billy Carlson (Chicago White Sox, No. 10) and utility player Ethin Bingaman (Arizona Diamondbacks, No. 603 overall).
Suffice it to say, Kelly isn't taking over the Bad News Bears. This year, the Panthers went 24-9 and finished the season ranked No. 12 in the state. Senior Trey Ebel, Brady's younger brother, was among the team's best players.
Kelly will have ample experience to draw from as a major league starter, reliever and a can't-miss prospect who reached the majors a day past his 24th birthday.
Kelly finished his career with a 54-38 record and a 3.98 ERA in 485 career games. The right-hander finished the 2023 and 2024 seasons in Los Angeles, making 46 appearances out of the Dodgers' bullpen after arriving in a July 2023 trade with the Chicago White Sox.
Kelly helped the Dodgers end their 32-year World Series drought in 2020, beating the Tampa Bay Rays. Two years earlier, he helped the Boston Red Sox beat the Dodgers in a five-game World Series.
Will Kelly break out his World Series rings when he needs to make a point to his new pupils? Or his Carlos Correa "pouty face" when a high schooler pulls an attitude?
Maybe not — but they're nice tools to have in your coaching belt.
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Published 41 minutes ago
J.P. HOORNSTRAJ.P. Hoornstra is an On SI Contributor. A veteran of 20 years of sports coverage for daily newspapers in California, J.P. covered MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Los Angeles Angels (occasionally of Anaheim) from 2012-23 for the Southern California News Group. His first book, The 50 Greatest Dodgers Games of All-Time, published in 2015. In 2016, he won an Associated Press Sports Editors award for breaking news coverage. He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.
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Don’t forget San Diego’s July 4 fiasco — then vote the bums out
Don't forget SD's July 4 fiasco — then vote the bums out- US News
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Skip to main content OpinionDon’t forget San Diego’s July 4 fiasco — then vote the bums out
By CA Post Editorial Board Published July 1, 2026, 9:57 p.m. ETSee more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The California Post on GoogleRipped from the headlines of the satirical Babylon Bee:
A DEI extravaganza to mark the 250th birthday of the USA!
Oh wait.
That’s not the Bee; it’s actually a thing: San Diego County plans an identity-politics spectacular this July 4.
Wanna go?
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The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted this year to align the county’s Independence Day event with “equity and racial justice” goals.
Per a social media post from the mayor of El Cajon, the three-hour program will feature: a “tribal intimate blessing welcoming to land”; a tribal invocation; the American and black national anthems; local tribal community stories; Latino community stories; Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community stories; LGBTQIA+ community stories; and black and African community stories.
Whew. It’s exhausting just to read about.
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But more to the point: all of this … on July 4 of America’s 250th year? What message does the county of San Diego mean to send?
Not one that elevates fun, family, unity, respect, gratitude and patriotism — traditional Independence Day fare.
Instead, the county stoops to woke pandering.
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Extolling favored groups on the nation’s birthday is e pluribus unum in reverse: ex uno, plura.
It’s divisive. It’s ill-timed. And it’s disrespectful to the nation, to its founding values and to the US Armed Forces who have fought and sometimes died to guard the rights the grievance crowd takes for granted.
In the very recent past, Americans of all stars and stripes could agree on some things, including the Fourth of July and its fun family patriotic fare.
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Remember the iconic jingle, “We love baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet?”
Those were days when Americans united around major holidays, around a shared heritage of freedom and around pride in a country that’s the freest in the world.
No longer.
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These days, the scolds can’t be satisfied, the socialists win elections from New York to Colorado (unthinkable not long ago) and divisive Fourth of July programs emerge in once-moderate places like San Diego County.
Increasingly, elected officials want to shove a thumb in the eye of the nation, its founding, its traditions and its glory.
Enough.
Note to the radicals who rush to tear America down on perhaps its most cherished holiday:
Stop being petulant about losing national elections.
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Love your country even if you don’t love its current leader.
Teach, respect and appreciate the values of 1776: liberty, individual rights, equality, limited government and the rule of law.
Ditch the woke bilge and restore the picnics, US flags and fireworks.
Restore e pluribus unum.
Skip the lecture series and let the people have fun.
And a bonus memo to San Diego County voters: Remember this farce next election.
Just maybe, in another grand American tradition, you’ll do this:
Throw the bums out.
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