Ty Kelly: Former Mets Infielder & Sweet Potato Food Truck Vendor (2016)
The six foot third baseman Tyler, attended high school in California. He attended college at the Loyola Marymount, University of California at Davis. There in his sophomore year he led the Big West Conference with a .387 batting average, helping the Aggies reach the Division 1 Tournament.
In 2009, Kelly was signed by the Baltimore Orioles in the 13th round of the draft.
Kelly's minor league career started off well, making All Star teams the NY / Penn. League (2009), in the South Atlantic League (2011) & in the AA California League (2012 & 2013).
In 2012 Kelly hit .327 going from A ball up to AAA ball. In 213 he followed batting .298, then was traded from the Baltimore organization to the Seattle Mariners organization.
In 2015 he was sent to the St. Louis Cards organization, but he struggled batting .203 then was designated for assignment. Kelly then got picked up by the Toronto Blue Jays, overall batting just .226 on the season. Mets Career: In Spring 2016 the New York Mets gave him a minor league contract.
In 2016 he began his eighth year in pro ball with the AAA Las Vegas 51s. By May he was the league's top hitter batting .391 with 12 doubles, 2 HRs & 15 RBIs & a .478 on base %.
On May 23rd, the Mets chose to bring up the hot minor league hitter when Lucas Duda went on the DL. The Mets already had David Wright struggling with back issues & Wilmer Flores on the DL as well.
The Mets desperately needed a third baseman & with a depleted minor league, Kelly got the call up.
Met Debut:
On May 24th, Kelly debuted with the Mets wearing #56, in a 7-4 loss to the Washington Nationals. In that game he struck out three times against Steven Strasburg who shares the same birthday as Kelly.
On May 30th Ty got his first hit, coming off the White Sox, Nate Jones in a 1-0 Mets win.
In 2016 he began his eighth year in pro ball with the AAA Las Vegas 51s. By May he was the league's top hitter batting .391 with 12 doubles, 2 HRs & 15 RBIs & a .478 on base %.
On May 23rd, the Mets chose to bring up the hot minor league hitter when Lucas Duda went on the DL. The Mets already had David Wright struggling with back issues & Wilmer Flores on the DL as well.
The Mets desperately needed a third baseman & with a depleted minor league, Kelly got the call up.
Met Debut:
On May 24th, Kelly debuted with the Mets wearing #56, in a 7-4 loss to the Washington Nationals. In that game he struck out three times against Steven Strasburg who shares the same birthday as Kelly. On May 30th Ty got his first hit, coming off the White Sox, Nate Jones in a 1-0 Mets win.
On June 8th, Kelly hit his first career HR, coming off Jameson Tallion with a two-run shot coming in a 6-5 Mets win over the Pirates in Pittsburgh.
It was soon apparent, Kelly wasn't the answer at third base, after ten games he was batting just .174 with one HR & two RBIs. On June 10th, he was sent back down to AAA Las Vegas when the Mets re-acquired Kelly Johnson. Kelly did return a week later going hitless in four games, 0-4 as a pinch hitter. The Mets would soon reunite with popular former Met, Jose Reyes, who primarily became the club's main third baseman.
Kelly was back in Las Vegas until August 6th, when he got called back up. From August 12th to August 18th, he drove in runs in three games & also drew three walks in a win over the Padres that week. He saw action in nine games getting his average to .250 while driving in four runs. His up & down year continued as he went back to Vegas until getting a September call up. That month, he got just two hits in ten at bats, also seeing some defensive action.
On the 2016 Mets Wild Card season, he batted .241 with 1 HR & 7 RBIs in 39 games. Ty played ten games at third base & ten in the outfield with two games at second & one at first base.2016 Wild Card Game: In the Wild Card Game loss to the San Francisco Giants, Kelly got an 8th inning pinch-hit single off Madison Bumgarner. It was one of just four Mets hits that evening.
In April 2017 he was placed on waivers getting picked up by the Toronto Blue Jays. A week later his contract was purchased by the Philadelphia Phillies.
(4 games) & all outfield spots (11 games). He was granted free agency & resigned with the New York Mets.
Mets Redux: In July 2018 Kelly played nine games for the Mets going 1-11. He spent the rest of the season at AAA Las Vegas batting .260. He was granted free agency then signed with the Angels, Dodgers & Mariners over the next five years but did not make it back to the big-league level.
Sweet Potato Ty: Ty is a sweet potato aficionado & runs a sweet potato food truck business, sometimes located outside Citi Field.
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