Casey Kelly Shut Down For Rest Of Season

Red Sox uber prospect Casey Kelly is going to be shut down for the rest of the Double-A season because of a lat strain -- but don't fret, because the kid's going to be all right:

"It's nothing overly-serious," said Mike Hazen, Red Sox Director of Player Development. "The challenge with it is the time of the year. Had it been a different time of the year, we would have moved this on a little quicker.

"We're not going to rush him back to get one more start in Portland.

"We'll try to focus now on the instructional league the and fall league to build up the last 20-plus, 30 innings we were hoping to get out of him."

Kelly finished the season with a 3-5 record and a 5.31 ERA. He is expected to pitch in the Arizona Fall League or a winter league.

Kelly didn't have the greatest of seasons, but his stock shouldn't drop at all after this year. He's still young -- 20 -- and this was his first season as a pitcher full time. He's only going to get better, so don't let that ERA fool you. He struck out 7.7 batters per nine innings, so it wasn't all bad for the youngster.