The Brewers selected Kelley's contract from Triple-A Nashville on Tuesday.
To clear room for Kelley on the 40-man roster and 26-man active roster, the Brewers placed J.C. Mejia on the restricted list after he was handed an 80-game suspension Tuesday for violating MLB's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. The right-handed Kelley last appeared in the majors in 2020, when he logged four appearances out of the Philadelphia bullpen. He was sharp over 13 innings with Nashville this season, posting an 0.69 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 17:14 K:BB.