Kelly Stinnett: Early Nineties Mets Reserve Catcher (1994 - 1995)

Kelly Lee Stinnett was born on February 14, 1970, in Lawton, Oklahoma. The five-foot eleven right hand hitting Stinnett was a star baseball & football player in high school. He won the State Championship with teammates James Trapp and Will Shields who both went on to play in the NFL.

Stinnett attended Seminole Junior College winning All American & Jr. College Player of the Year batting .399. He was signed as a catcher by the Cleveland Indians in the 11th round of the 1989 amateur draft. He was drafted away by the New York Mets in December 1993 in the Rule V draft.

Mets Career: He made the club out of Spring Training & would spend two seasons in New York, as Todd Hundley’s backup catcher. 

Kelly debuted in third game of the season at Wrigley Field, catching Pete Smith & hitting a two run double in the Mets 6-2 win. On April 14th in a 10-9 win over the Cubs he had his first three hit game of the season. On May 4th he had his second three hit game in a 7-4 win over the Giants at Shea.

On May 5th Stinnett hit his first HR  coming off the Cards Allen Watson in a 8-1 win at Busch Stadium. 

Multi- Four Hit Game: On June 6th he had his season best four hit game coming in an 11-3 Mets win at Colrado. Stinnett had three singles & his first triple of the season. 

Multi-Three Hit / Three RBI Game: On June 7th in a loss at Colorado, Kelly had his third multi- three hit game, while having a season high multi-three RBI game. In the top of the 3rd inning, he tripled for the second time in as many games driving in his first run. He later added a two run double off Bruce Ruffin in the Mets four run 8th inning.

On July 1st he hit a two run HR off the Padres Bill Krueger in a wild 10-7 win. He drove in two more runs before the baseball strike ended that season. 

Stinnett would see action in 47 games for the Mets that year, making five errors behind the plate throwing out 32% of base stealers. On the season he batted .253 with 19 extra base hits 2 HRs & 14 RBIs.

1995: This season he would see action in 77 games sharing time with Alberto Castillo as Todd Hundley’s back up catcher. 

On May 17th & again on May 21st, he hit HRs in back-to-back games in which he played in, although the Mets lost both games. 

On June 5th in San Francisco, Stinnett cleared the bases with a 1st inning two run double off Terry Mulholland scoring Chris Jones & Bobby Bonilla although David Segui was thrown out at home. 

From August 8th thru August 12th Stinnett drove in runs in four of five games collecting five hits with four walks in that span. On August 30th & 31st he drove in runs in back to back games at Dodger Stadium. 

He finished the year batting .219 with four HRs  eight doubles & 18 RBIs playing in 77 games. He had eleven multi-hit games on the season. In 67 games behind the plate he threw out 29% of runners trying to steal.

That off season he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for pitcher Corey Lidle who would go 7-2 for the 1997 Mets.

Post Mets Career: After his Mets career, Stinnett would play 12 more seasons as journey man solid backup catcher. He played in Milwaukee (1996-1997) then in Arizona (1998-2000) where he saw the most playing time backing up Damian Miller appearing in over 75 games each season. 

In 1999 he had career highs with Arizona in HRs (14) RBIs (38) games (92). 

1999 Post Season: That year he played in his only post season series, the NLDS against his old Mets teammates. He went 2-14 with a run scored while playing in all four games. Stinnett was the catcher behind the plate calling the pitch Todd Pratt drilled for the walk off win in Game #4 in the bottom of the 9th inning.

Stinnett moved on to Cincinnati (2001-2003) Philadelphia (2003) Kansas City (2004) A.L. New York (2006) & another then in another brief stint with the Mets.

Return To Mets:  On August 24, 2006, Stinnett signed a minor league contract with the Mets. On September 9th, he made his return at Shea Stadium  in a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers, going 1-3.  On September 7th he came into the game in the 7th inning as a defensive replacement.

On September 9th he played the entire games collecting a hit in the Mets 3-2 win over the Dodgers at Shea Stadium. He would get two more starts playing a total of seven games for the Mets going 1-12.

Stinnett finished September with a .083 Batting Average and was not included on the 2006 New York Mets postseason roster.

Career Stats: After 14 seasons he batted .234 with 476 hits, 65 HRs 91 doubles & 230 RBIs playing in 734 games. In his career behind the plate, he threw out 28 % of base runners, made 67 errors in 4063 chances (leading the league with 12 in 2001) posting a .9834 fielding %.

Retirement: In 2013 he was manager in the Freedom Pro Baseball League in Arizona. Then head coach at the Est Coast Baseball League for the Watertown Bucks In 2018 he was head coach at Park University's Gilbert Arizona campus.

Base Ball Cards: Kelly is a baseball card collector, being from Oklahoma he is a fan of Mickey Mantle with many of his cards in his collection. 

Family: Kelly & his wife  Gina have three sons.