Thunder Bay Border Cats name J.M. Kelly as new manager

The new Thunder Bay Border Cats field manager says the team will definitely make its presence known in the community next season.

The team has announced J.M. Kelly, from Buna, Texas, will be the team's next on-field manager, is it begins ramping up operations ahead of its first season since COVID-19 pandemic-related shutdowns in 2020. 

"It's going to be a lot of fun," Kelly said. "We're going to be super interactive with the fans and the community.

"You'll see us everywhere we possibly can have an opportunity to be. People need us to come speak or help in an event, we'll do that."

Kelly brings a wealth of baseball experience to the team, coaching at colleges and universities in the United States. He's currently an assistant coach with Texas A&M University — Kingsville, and has coached at Charleston Southern University, Northern Oklahoma — Tonkawa Junior College, and Carl Albert State Junior College.

At the end of the day, what people will see will be us having a lot of fun, and having a really good relationship as a ball club- J.M. Kelly, Border Cats manager 

He coached the North Platte Plainsmen of the Independence League in 2022, and was an associate scout with the Houston Astros from 2019-2021.

Kelly said his connections with various collegiate baseball programs have been a big help with recruiting and fans can expect to see plenty of NCAA Division 1 players on the team's roster.

"We've got some guys who can hit the ball out of the yard," he said. "We've got some guys that can run, we've got some guys that can run it up there on the mound. But I think at the end of the day, what people will see will be us having a lot of fun, and having a really good relationship as a ball club."

Border Cats Vice-President Bryan Graham said Kelly was actually poised to join the team as an assistant coach in 2022, working with Mike Steed, who the Cats had signed to be their manager.

However, the Cats spent three seasons — 2020-2022 — on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Steed wound up joining the Atlanta Braves organization as a minor league pitching coach.

Steed recommended Kelly as the new Cats manager, Graham said. 

"We went through the interview process, we vetted J.M., and he just checked all the boxes that were looking for for our our new manager," Graham said. "Plus he had already committed to come to Thunder Bay in 2022, which meant a lot to  us."

"It was a real easy process, and a good decision for us to make to hire him as the manager for the ball club in 2023."