Ty Kelly

Early life

Kelly was born in Dallas, Texas, the first child of Pat and Diane Kelly. Kelly's mother is Jewish. His father played both basketball and baseball for the Colorado Buffaloes, before serving as an assistant baseball coach at San Joaquin Delta College.

Kelly attended St. Mary's High School in Stockton, California, where he played both basketball and baseball, graduating in 2006. In baseball, he batted just under .400 as a senior, and received All-Tri-City Athletic League and all-area honors. In basketball, he was named All-TCAL Defensive Player of the Year.

College

Kelly played his freshman year of college baseball for the Loyola Marymount Lions. He then transferred to the University of California, Davis, where he majored in Communications in his sophomore and junior years. Kelly led the Big West Conference with a .397 batting average as a sophomore in 2008, and was # 2 in the Big West Conference in hits, with 94. He helped the Aggies reach the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament in their first year of eligibility.

Kelly was then a 2008 Cape Cod League All-Star. He was on the Brooks Wallace Player of the Year Watch List in 2009, and batted .307 with 20 doubles (tied for 3rd in the Conference). His career batting average and hits total rank second and third, respectively, in Aggies history.

Minor leagues

The Baltimore Orioles selected Kelly in the 13th round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft. He began his professional career that year as a third baseman and second baseman, hitting .265 with 33 walks in 61 games for the Short-Season A Aberdeen Ironbirds. He was named a 2009 mid-season New York-Penn League All Star.

In 2010, Kelly played third base and second base for the Class-A Delmarva Shorebirds of the South Atlantic League, he batted .259 with 4 home runs, 58 RBIs, 30 doubles, and 68 walks (5th in the league). Kelly played the 2011 season in Delmarva, primarily playing third base and left field, batting .274 with 4 home runs, 46 RBIs, and 67 walks (5th in the league). He was named a 2011 mid-season South Atlantic League All Star.

In 2012 he hit .327/.425/.467 with 11 home runs and 70 RBIs split between the Advanced-A Frederick Keys of the Carolina League (for whom Kelly batted .346/.460/.513 while primarily playing second base and third base), Double-A Bowie BaySox of the Eastern League (primarily playing third base and left field), and Triple-A Norfolk Tides of the International League (playing second base and third base). He was named Player of the Week in the Carolina League on July 16, 2012. He was named a 2012 mid-season Carolina League All Star. He was also named an MiLB.com Organization All-Star in 2012, both for Baltimore and Seattle. That season he led Orioles minor leaguers in hits, batting, and total bases, and was third in RBIs.

In 2013, Kelly hit .283 in 72 games for Bowie before he was traded in June to the Seattle Mariners for outfielder Eric Thames. He was named a 2013 mid-season Eastern League All Star. He then batted .320/.456/.406 with 51 walks in 54 games for the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League. His 5-walk game on August 16, 2013, tied a PCL single-game record. On the season, he batted .298/.417/.392 and recorded 85 runs, 27 doubles, and 102 walks (second in the minors, behind Greg Bird) in 126 games, hitting .298. He led the minor leagues in fewest swings-per-at-bat, at 30.8%. He was named a 2013 Baseball America High Class A All Star. He was also named a 2013 MiLB.com Organization All-Star for Seattle.

In 2014 he played for Tacoma, batting .263/.381/.412 with 15 home runs in 134 games as he started 64 games at second base, 36 games at third base, 15 games in right field, and 5 games in left field. Kelly ranked 2nd in the Pacific Coast League with 85 walks (trailing only Joc Pederson of the Dodgers), and in the top 5 in the minor leagues in fewest swings-per-at-bat (at 36.4%). He was named a 2014 MiLB.com Organization All-Star for Seattle.

Kelly was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for pitcher Sam Gaviglio on November 20, 2014. As a member of the Cardinals organization, he played for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds of the Pacific Coast League and batted .203 in 79 games played. On July 22, 2015, Kelly was claimed off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays, and optioned to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons of the International League. He was designated for assignment on August 29, and outrighted to the Bisons on August 31. Kelly played in 117 games in the 2015 season, and batted .226 with 3 home runs and 33 RBIs. He elected free agency on November 7.

On November 13, 2015, Kelly signed a minor league contract with the New York Mets that included an invitation to spring training.

In 2016 with Triple-A Las Vegas 51s of the Pacific Coast League, he batted .328/.409/.435.

Through the 2016 season, in his minor league career Kelly had played 366 games at third base, 287 games at second base, 143 games in left field, 47 games in right field, 21 games in center field, 5 games at shortstop, 4 games at first base, and had pitched a scoreless inning in one Triple-A game.

Major leagues

The Mets promoted Kelly to the major leagues on May 23, 2016, in his eighth pro season (after 855 minor league games, and 3,063 minor league at bats), to replace an injured Lucas Duda. At the time, he was leading the minor leagues with a .391 batting average and a .478 on base percentage.

Kelly made his major league debut starting at third base against the Washington Nationals on May 24. Kelly hit his first home run against Jameson Taillon on June 8 in Pittsburgh.

In February 2017, Kelly was outrighted to the Mets’ Triple-A team and invited to major league spring training by the Mets.

Team Israel

Kelly was originally scheduled to play for Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic qualifier in September 2016, but got called up to the Mets at the time so couldn't play.

Kelly played third base for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic in the main tournament, in March 2017. After Israel -- ranked # 41 in the world -- defeated # 3-ranked South Korea by a score of 2-1 in 10 innings in the first game, Kelly tweeted: "Definitely the most stressful game I’ve ever been a part of. But it was worth it."