Dodgers: Joe Kelly Talks About His Suspension Appeal Hearing

The Big Swing podcast made national headlines this week thanks to their interview with Joe Kelly. The Dodgers’ pitcher did not hold back when he talked about the Astros and how he felt about their players, and it was fantastic. 

Kelly was asked by Dave Vassegh about his experience on the podcast with Cooper Surles and Ross Stripling, and we got a little bit of insight. Kelly also got to talk about his appeal hearing which happened after he recorded the podcast with the Dodgers’ pitcher. 

I was able to say a lot. The appeal hearing was about four times longer than that podcast. So I was able to say exactly what I wanted to say. It was unfortunate that I still got 5 and it was I would say, wasn’t the best hearing for evidence that MLB had against me. But there’s only so much control that I have. 

The Dodgers’ incident with the Astros was minor at most, but Kelly still got an initial 8-game ban. According to Kelly, MLB did not have nearly enough evidence to even justify a shortened suspension.

The perception is that I’ve done it before so they’re just assuming that I did the same thing again. Which is why these things go to appeals right? You have evidence, you provide your evidence. But based on the evidence that both sides put together. If it was run of let’s just say 100 different people who don’t know anything about sports and you provide evidence and show them both cases from each side…I would be willing to bet my career earnings that I would get 90 percent of the vote. 

As of right now, the Dodgers have Joe Kelly on the Injured List with shoulder inflammation. That means that he would not be eligible to start serving his suspension until he is activated from the list. 

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