Career
Don Kelly was born in the Pittsburgh suburb of Butler, Pennsylvania and played baseball at suburban Mt. Lebanon High School; in his senior year the team won the Class AAA state title. At Mount Lebanon, he regularly alternated between the two middle infield positions with Josh Wilson, another future major leaguer. He was not then considered a "draftable" player and attended Point Park College, a liberal arts college in downtown Pittsburgh. Over three seasons he batted .413 and struck out just 20 times in over 500 at-bats. In the summer of 2000 Kelly played for the Petersburg Generals of the Coastal Plain League—a collegiate summer league. Kelly's collegiate performance prompted interest from major league teams and the Detroit Tigers drafted him in the 8th round (237th overall) of the 2001 Major League Baseball Draft. Detroit assigned him to the Low-A Oneonta Tigers in the New York - Penn League, where he batted .286 and struck out just sixteen times—second best in the league. Next year Detroit promoted him to the Single-A West Michigan Whitecaps in the Midwest League. There, Kelly continued to impress, and was named the starting shortstop for the Eastern All-Stars in the league's mid-season All-Star game.
Kelly's versatility was first put to the test at the professional level when he was with the High-A Lakeland Tigers in 2003. He shifted to third base when Anderson Hernández replaced him at shortstop. Kelly eventually spent more time at first and second base after Ryan Raburn took over at third. Kelly got off to a strong start: by mid-June his .363 average led the Florida State League and the local Ledger described him as a "slugger." Although his average eventually cooled to a still-respectable .317, Detroit promoted him in mid-season to the Double-A Erie SeaWolves, where he joined fellow Pittsburgh native and future brother-in-law Matt Walker (brother of current Pittsburgh Pirates Neil Walker).
In 2004 Detroit invited Kelly to spring training, and in his first at-bat in a spring training game Kelly hit a home run against his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates. On March 17 Detroit optioned Kelly back to Erie, but he missed most of the season with an injured shoulder. Kelly returned to Erie in 2005 and picked up where he had left off, hitting .340 over 82 games. Baseball America named Kelly the best-hitting prospect in the Eastern League. On June 30 Detroit promoted him to the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens of the International League, one step away from the majors.
Kelly played in 43 games for the Mud Hens in 2005 and batted .250, a tenure partially interrupted by a groin injury. Commented Mud Hens manager Larry Parrish: "Hitting-wise, there's been a little bit of an adjustment for him here...He tore up Double-A, and here he's done alright. He's holding his own. But it's his first year here, and he's still going through a learning process." In the off-season Kelly played for the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League. In 2006 Kelly almost made the major league team out of spring training but instead returned to Toledo. Detroit manager Jim Leyland said "When push came to shove, he ran into a numbers game." At Toledo Kelly's numbers fell off; Detroit demoted him to Erie after hitting .228. At Erie his numbers improved to .272, but at the end of the season Detroit removed Kelly from their 40-man roster, making him a free agent.
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