With a luau-themed weekend, the Pittsburgh Pirates picked the perfect time to promote a pitching prospect from One Happy Island.

Antwone Kelly is set to become the first Aruba native to play for the Pirates and seventh in MLB history when he makes his debut.

The 22-year-old right-hander, ranked their No. 7 prospect by MLB Pipeline and No. 7 by Baseball America, was recalled Friday from Triple-A Indianapolis, to boost a beleaguered bullpen.

“It feels amazing,” Kelly said in the home clubhouse before Friday’s game against the Miami Marlins at PNC Park. “This is a dream come true.”

The 5-foot-10, 238-pounder was 3-4 with a 4.50 ERA, 1.48 WHIP and .268 batting average-against, recording 47 strikeouts against 24 walks and allowing eight home runs in 54 innings over 13 appearances (10 starts) for Indianapolis this season. He also pitched for the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic, as Aruba is a constituent island country within its kingdom.

Kelly had 116 strikeouts in 25 starts split between High-A Greensboro and Double-A Altoona last season, when he led all of the organization’s full-season minor leaguers in ERA (3.02). His fastball, which was clocked at 100-plus mph 17 times this season, was described by Pirates manager Don Kelly as “elite.”

“The fastball is the thing,” Don Kelly said. “It’s an interesting mix, where he’s able to mix it up with the split-change and the cutter. I think the spin has been developing and doing better this year.”

Pirates catcher Rafael Flores Jr., who caught Kelly at Indianapolis, said Antwone Kelly’s fastball has ride and is complemented by a short slider and a big sweeper that Flores predicted would be his “kill pitch.”

“He throws hard, he throws a lot of strikes and he’s got some fire to him,” Flores said. “I think he’s going to do really good up here. He’s going to be lights-out here.”

Kelly was playing PlayStation at home when he got a call from Indianapolis manager Eric Patterson, who told him he was going to the show. Kelly called home to his family in Aruba to share news of his promotion.

“We were all crying,” Kelly said.

Kelly, who signed for $100,000 as an international free agent in January 2021, would become the fifth Pirates player to make his MLB debut this season, joining shortstop Konnor Griffin, right-handers Wilber Dotel and Brandan Bidois and outfielder Esmerlyn Valdez. Bidois was optioned to Indianapolis to make room on the active roster for Kelly.

Kelly was excited to join the short list of players from Aruba to appear in a MLB game: Calvin Maduro (1996-2002), Gene Kingsale (1996-2003), Radhames Dykhoff (1998), Sidney Ponson (1998-2009), Xander Bogaerts (2013-present) and Chadwick Tromp (2020-present).

Although Kelly has been used primarily as a starter, he was moved to the bullpen earlier this month and tossed five scoreless innings in relief for Indianapolis.

“I think you just got to have the same mentality,” Antwone Kelly said. “It’s baseball at the end of the day. So, starter, reliever, whatever they want. I’ll be ready.”