PHILADELPHIA — Catcher Carson Kelly snapped future teammate Matthew Boyd’s streak in college.
The way Boyd tells it, he and his housemates at Oregon State had converted their last 15 or so undecided baseball recruits into commits.
Kelly, however, chose Oregon.
‘‘We were pretty good at sealing the deal,’’ Boyd lamented. ‘‘It didn’t work with Carson, though.’’
The point was somewhat moot, although that doesn’t stop Boyd from giving Kelly a hard time about it. The Cardinals selected Kelly in the second round of the MLB Draft in 2012, and he went pro instead of attending either of the then-Pac-12 rivals. But Boyd’s connection with Kelly can be traced to that college visit.
In the Cubs’ 4-3, 11-inning loss Monday to the Phillies, Boyd yielded two runs (one earned) in six innings with Kelly catching him.
Kelly said the traits he appreciates in Boyd were evident even in their initial meeting. Boyd showed Kelly around Oregon State, exhibiting a genuine interest in him by asking things such as where he went to high school and whether he had siblings.
‘‘Really, he took the time,’’ Kelly said. ‘‘What I love about him and his personality is he gives you the time of day. It’s not just small talk. He actually pays attention to who you are as a person and wants to get to know you. And he had that in college.’’
It was natural that Boyd and his housemates would host Kelly on his college visit because Kelly had gone to Westview High in the Portland area with one of the housemates, Zack Reser. The house next door was also full of baseball players, Boyd said, including now-Dodgers outfielder Michael Conforto, so it was a group effort.
‘‘Obviously, he was a super-talented recruit,’’ Boyd said of Kelly. ‘‘So it was a big deal that he was there.’’
Kelly said choosing between Oregon State and Oregon was ‘‘really hard.’’
‘‘Apparently, it wasn’t a good-enough time, though, because he chose Oregon,’’ Boyd said, feigning irritation.
After being drafted, however, Kelly took online classes to get his degree in economics from Oregon State.
‘‘He finally came back around in the end,’’ Boyd said.
It took Kelly about five years to complete his degree, he said, adjusting his credits each quarter based on whether it was baseball season. He remembers doing coursework on buses in the minors. Later, former Cardinals manager Mike Matheny helped edit Kelly’s papers.
‘‘I’m really proud of it,’’ Kelly said of his degree. ‘‘The reality is, we’re going to be ex-players a lot longer than we are current players, which is cliché to say, but there’s a lot there. There’s a lot of life to live. So what do I want to do next? You can’t play the game forever.’’
Kelly going pro right out of high school lined up his and Boyd’s careers. Boyd played one more season of college ball, then was drafted by the Blue Jays in 2013. He made his major-league debut two years later, and Kelly reached the big leagues in 2016.
‘‘A lot of the Northwest guys, we keep an eye out for who’s doing well and who’s coming up the pipeline and all this stuff,’’ Kelly said. ‘‘It’s a closer-knit group, that Oregon-Washington area.’’
So Kelly and Boyd, who grew up in the Seattle area, kept in touch and kept tabs on each other as they built their major-league careers.
In August 2023, the Tigers signed Kelly, who had been released by the Diamondbacks. That reunited him with Boyd, who was sidelined with the Tigers after having season-ending Tommy John surgery.
They finally had become teammates, even if they wouldn’t get to play together until this season with the Cubs.
‘‘Especially in a position where communication is crucial, like the pitcher-catcher relationship, it definitely helps that we know each other,’’ Boyd said. ‘‘I remember we were talking in Detroit, back when my arm was in a sling, and we were still talking [about] pitching and were talking about approach.’’
Now they’re putting those discussions into action.