Relishing underdog status

Ex-met Kelly on the pride and passion of playing for Israel

I am not going to lie. The task ahead is daunting. Our pool is stacked. The other teams have All-stars all over the place. But you know that we have some pretty good players, too, and I think the people will find that out.

I expect to be starting somewhere in the infield when my club, Israel, opens Pool D play in the WBC against Nicaragua in Miami on March 12. We also go against Puerto Rico, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. Only two of us will advance into the next round.

I can tell you one thing for sure, all of us will be playing with a collective chip on our shoulders. I have been playing with a chip on my shoulder my entire career.

It took me eight years, 855 minor games and 3,063 minor league at-bats to finally make it to the majors when I joined the Mets in 2016. Trivia note, until the wild card last year, I was the last Mets player to get a hit in the postseason.

Here are some of the guys on our team who you should look out for: two–time All-star outfielder Joc Pederson of the Giants; catcher Garrett Stubbs, who won a pennant with the Phillies last year; infielder Danny Valencia who played in the majors for nine years; the Orioles’ Dean Kremer, who became the first Israeli to make it the bigs and win a game in the majors; lefty Richard Bleier, who is now with the Red Sox; and veteran Robert Stock, now with Milwaukee.

We have some great young guys like Cubs first base prospect Matt Mervis, who led the minors in RBI last year; Oakland’s third baseman Zack Gelof and first baseman Spencer Horwitz, who was just added to the Blue Jays’ 40-man roster this winter.

I have been playing for Israel’s national teams since 2017 and I can tell you from first-hand experience we have been underdogs before and we kind of relish that role.

In 2017, we played the first game of the tournament and defeated host South Korea in 10 innings. I never played in a game with so much tension. We then defeated the Netherlands and Taiwan to advance to the next round in Japan. We had another great win vs. Cuba before we were eliminated.

I was fortunate to play for Israel in the 2020 Olympics and we had a spectacular win against Mexico before we had two walk-off losses.

We have an outstanding staff to lead us in Ian Kinsler, who is our manager, plus coaches Brad Ausmus and Jerry Narron, who were former MLB managers. Our hitting coach Is Kevin Youkilis, a former teammate of Ian with Boston.

I think having Ian in the dugout is going to be a gigantic plus. He was a two-time All-star and had a great career.

He won a WBC title playing for the USA in 2017 and was my teammate at the Tokyo Olympics. He’s now in the front office with the Rangers. So when he speaks, everyone will listen.

I know this is not going to be a walk in the park. Our opponents include Ronald Acuna, Jose Altuve, Miguel Cabrera, Sandy Alcantara, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Manny Machado, Juan Soto, Julio Rodriguez, Edwin Diaz and Francisco Lindor.

We’ll be ready for the challenge, I am sure of that.

I’m also proud of representing Israel in this time when antisemitism is rampant in this country and abroad. Proud to wear the Star of David and help to spread the game of baseball in Israel.

I was able to play for Israel because my mother Diane is Jewish and that makes me eligible. The entire side of mom’s family is Jewish. They kept telling me what a wonderful city Tel Aviv is and I had to go see it sometime. So in 2019 I decided to become an Israeli citizen. I remember talking about Israel at our Thanksgivings. I really have embraced the religion.

We are excited that the 2025 European Championship will be held in Israel. It will be a great event with 16 teams and 52 scheduled games over 12 days. I am hoping the WBC will be a great showcase of how much Israel baseball has improved.

I know there will be a lot of doubters out there and I get that part of it. All I can say is that I know our team will be ready for the challenge come March 12.