Dodgers fan favorite Joe Kelly takes coaching role at Corona High

Joe Kelly is not done with baseball. He is just taking his fastball, edge and unmistakable personality to a different dugout.

The former Dodgers reliever has joined Corona High School’s baseball program as an assistant coach, beginning a new chapter after a 13-year MLB career that included three World Series rings, October dominance and a reputation as one of baseball’s great modern characters.

Corona is not just any high school program. The Panthers have become one of the most heavily scouted teams in the country under coach Andy Wise, producing elite prospects, national attention and a historic 2025 draft class. In recent years, Corona has been a CIF Southern Section power and one of California’s premier baseball factories.

Kelly brings a resume few high school staffs can match.

A third-round pick by the Cardinals in 2009, Kelly debuted in 2012 and later pitched for the Red Sox, Dodgers and White Sox. He appeared in 485 games, threw 839 innings and finished with a 3.98 ERA. His best work often came in October, including a dominant 2018 postseason with Boston and another title run with the Dodgers in 2020. He also earned a third ring with Los Angeles in 2024.

But numbers were never the full Joe Kelly story.

He threw hard, sometimes wildly, and always with attitude. Dodgers fans embraced him after his viral showdown with the Astros, when he mocked Carlos Correa with the famous pouty face during the sign-stealing scandal fallout. He leaned into the “Wild Thing” comparisons, wore No. 99 with the Dodgers and even gave up No. 17 to Shohei Ohtani, a move that led to Ohtani gifting Kelly’s wife, Ashley, a Porsche.

This will not technically be Kelly’s first coaching experience, though his last dugout assignment came with, of course, a little chaos.

On the “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast, Kelly recently told a wild story about being punched while coaching his 9-year-old son’s team, which feels about right for a player who spent his career making baseball a little louder, stranger and certainly more entertaining.

Now, Corona gets the baseball version of Kelly: intense, unfiltered and experienced.

He may no longer be pitching in the majors, but he is still very much in the game.

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