Uncommitted Spotlight: '26 INF Elius Kelly
June 12, 2025
Follow @PrepBaseballCA Follow @LesLukach Follow @PBRmonkFollow @hardy03bsblFollow @HankLoForte
New Episode LIVE now! - At The Yard Podcast
VENTURA, CALIF. - The Uncommitted Spotlight Series returns as the amateur baseball world in California has wrapped up the CIF High School baseball season and is now engulfed in the summer tournament/showcase circuit. The player featured today is one of the top players in the state of California and figures prominently in our Class of 2026 Rankings.
We invite you to get to know them through the eyes of our Prep Baseball California staff of scouts both through our in person looks at players and/or the data-backed numbers collected at our events with our partnered companies. TrackMan, Blast Motion, and VALD Performance provide comparable data to project and evaluate players. All of these systems come together to give a clear picture at what colleges will get when a players steps onto their campus.
Today, we put the spotlight on the #83 ranked player in the 2026 class who should be a strong follow for college programs in their 2026 recruiting efforts this summer in SoCal '26 3B/2B Elius Kelly from Damien High School in La Verne, Calif.. The intriguing Inland Empire product has put together a strong high school career at the varsity level in Southern California. In 2025, Kelly made 88 plate appearances (69 at bats) posting a slash line of .406/.523/.594 on the spring season with 15 BBs while posting three doubles, two triples, two homers and drove in 12 runs while scoring 17 runs himself in 24 games played. His average, total hits, runs scored, and RBIs were tops on the team.
Kelly was an impressive performer at the 2025 Inland Empire Preseason All State event for the Prep Baseball California staff and then impressed during a live look in the 2025 CIF High School baseball season with a game against Etiwanda at Quakes Stadium.
Kelly has a simple athletic operation in the box as a RH hitter who features a quiet load with a small forward move in his stride and has a quick turn with his hips while featuring hard contact that flashes consistent lift in the swing path. During his batting practice session at the Inland Empire Preseason All State Kelly showed the intriguing raw power in his profile by reaching a peak exit velocity of 102.1 MPH while generating an average exit velocity of 94.5 MPH from a swing that features high level bat speed (80.3 MPH max bat speed) the quickness in his hips 15.5 Gs of rotational acceleration while using strong quick hands (22 MPH hand speed) to deliver the barrel with authority. His underlying batted ball data from the day profiles to a impact/power profile corner bat with a 86% hard hit rate, 85.6% fly ball rate that as he polishes his approach and feel for contact out front on pitches he can do damage on will turn into HR power from the middle to pull side of the field while having opposite field power potential with his strong frame (6'4 205 lbs.).
Kelly showed solid athleticism with a 7.22 60 time including splits of 1.78 at 10 yards and 4.05 at 30 yards while showing a top run speed of 19.4 MPH. His arm is solid at 83 MPH across the INF and the actions he showed during the defensive workout at the Inland Empire Preseason All State and my live look has a long term 3B defensive profile, but could handle an OF corner if necessary and easily would be a high quality defender at 1B to get his power potential offensive profile into a college lineup.
With an intriguing offensive profile that continues to trend upward and a 3B defensive profile that flashes versatility with a track record of quality performance Kelly is a strong uncommitted 2026 for college coaches to be keeping close tabs on with his performance over the summer 2026 circuit.
College coaches and fans be sure to click on Kelly's profile to see full video and information.
Upcoming Events
| Showcase | State | Date | Location |
| Bay Area Summer ID | CA | 07/01 | Islanders Field |
| San Diego Summer ID | CA | 07/01 | Maranatha Christian High School - San Diego, CA |
| Central California Summer ID | CA | 07/08 | Ventura College |
| Senior Future Games (Class of 2026) | NATIONAL | 07/22 | LakePoint Sports |
| Future Games (Class of 2027) | NATIONAL | 07/23 | LakePoint Sports |
| Junior Future Games (Class of 2029/30) | NATIONAL | 07/24 | LakePoint Sports |
| 2025 California State Games (Invite-Only) | CA | 07/30 | Fullerton College - Fullerton, CA & Fullerton High School |
| 2025 West Coast Super Sophomore Games (Invite-Only) | CA | 09/26 | University of Oregon / Bushnell University |
RELATED CONTENT
Scouting Report
Kelly stands out quickly in a high school baseball environment for his athletic frame which flashes some present strength, loose actions and projects to add more strength as he continues to mature. While passing the eye-test does help a prospect it’s how that frame/tools play in a game environment that will move the needle upward on them and for me Kelly did just that over this look. In four trips to the plate Kelly gave me three really strong looks with a BB, barreled L-8 (robbed of a hit on a diving catch by CF) and pulled a single through the left side. The operation in the box flashes impact with an uphill path, solid present bat speed, feel to use his lower ½ and a solid present approach which profiles Kelly as a long-term middle of the order profile bat with power in the profile. As intriguing as what the RH hitter showed at the plate was the way he can defend at 3B was as interesting if not more interesting. He showed range laterally with quickness in his first step and sound hands to make a pair of nifty plays going to his forehand and robbed extra bases on a one-hopper to his backhand side while also coming downhill on a soft grounder to make a quick accurate throw to first base to retire the runner. The foundation for Kelly is strong, but the projection for him is interestingly high.
Positional Profile: 3B/2B
Body: 6-3, 205 pounds. Tall, lean, and athletic frame with plenty of projectability.
Hit: RHH. Upright stance with weight starting on back leg. Hands work back with body during load, small toe tap trigger into swing. Loose movements throughout, stays balanced on the follow through. Loose swing, slightly uphill path with an intent to lift. Consistent loud contact throughout. 73.8 mph bat speed with 14g of rotational acceleration.
Power: 102 mph max exit velocity (94.5 avg.); 365-foot max batted distance.
Arm: RH. INF - 83.00 mph. Fast arm with a longer windup, 3/4 slot.
Defense: Slight hopping prep step with quiet and agile footwork. Soft receiver, showed off some range.
Athletic Testing: 7.22 runner in the 60-yard dash.