Ty Kelly | |||||||||||||||
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Utility player | |||||||||||||||
Born: Dallas, Texas, U.S. | July 20, 1988|||||||||||||||
Batted: Switch Threw: Right | |||||||||||||||
MLB debut | |||||||||||||||
May 24, 2016, for the New York Mets | |||||||||||||||
Last MLB appearance | |||||||||||||||
July 23, 2018, for the New York Mets | |||||||||||||||
MLB statistics | |||||||||||||||
Batting average | .203 | ||||||||||||||
Hits | 32 | ||||||||||||||
Home runs | 3 | ||||||||||||||
Runs batted in | 21 | ||||||||||||||
Teams | |||||||||||||||
Medals
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Tyler Patrick Kelly (טיי קלי; born July 20, 1988) is an American-Israeli former professional baseball utility player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets.[1] He plays for Team Israel.
At the University of California, Davis, Kelly led the Big West Conference with a .397 batting average as a sophomore in 2008. That summer he was a 2008 Cape Cod League All Star playing for the Brewster Whitecaps.[2] The Baltimore Orioles selected Kelly in the 13th round (386th overall) of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft. Kelly was a 2009 New York-Penn League All Star, a 2011 South Atlantic League All Star, a 2012 Carolina League All Star, and a 2013 Eastern League All Star.
The Mets promoted Kelly to the major leagues in his eighth pro season, in 2016, after 855 minor league games, and 3,063 minor league at bats. He was the starting third baseman for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic. In April 2017, he was acquired by the Phillies, and in January 2018, he signed a contract to return to the Mets. In August 2019, Kelly announced his retirement from professional baseball.
In September 2019, he obtained Israeli citizenship. He played for Team Israel at the 2019 and 2023 European Baseball Championships. He also played for the team at the Africa/Europe 2020 Olympic Qualification tournament in Italy in September 2019, which Israel won to qualify to play baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics. He played third base for Team Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in the summer of 2021, and tied for fourth-most at the Olympics with four walks. Kelly also played for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.