Robert Paller (born May 21, 1993) is an

American-Israeli , native_name_lang = , image = , caption = , population = 110,000–150,000 , popplace = New York metropolitan area, Los Angeles metropolitan area, Miami metropolitan area, and other large metropolitan are ...

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

who is a free agent. On the international level, he represents the

Israel national baseball team The Israel national baseball team ( he, נבחרת ישראל בבייסבול) represents Israel in international competitions. It is managed by Israeli-American former Major League Baseball World Series champion, World Baseball Classic champion, ...

. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the Columbia Lions baseball team, and was First Team All-

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

in his senior year. He has since also played in the

Frontier League The Frontier League is a professional independent baseball league with teams in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada. Formed in 1993, it is the oldest currently running independent league in the United States. The le ...

, the

Canadian-American Association The Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, commonly known as the Can-Am League, was a professional, independent baseball league with teams in the Northeast United States and Eastern Canada, founded in 2005 as a reorganization of ...

, and the

United Shore Professional Baseball League The United Shore Professional Baseball League (USPBL) is an independent baseball league in suburban Metro Detroit, Michigan, United States, started in May 2016. Each team in the USPBL plays a 42-game regular season schedule from May through Septe ...

. He played left field and center field for Team Israel at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in Tokyo in the summer of 2021.

Early life

Paller is from

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. He attended the

Berkeley Carroll School The Berkeley Carroll School is a coed independent college prep school in New York City. Located in Park Slope, Brooklyn, it has a Lower School (preK – grade 4), Middle School (grades 5–8) and Upper School (grades 9–12). History The ...

('11), where he was coached by his father Walter Paller. Playing

center field A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the c ...

and hitting leadoff, he batted .426 as a junior with 18

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

s in 19 attempts, and .531 as a senior with 52 runs, 20 RBIs, and 32 stolen bases, and was named league MVP. He was named All-Brooklyn by the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' in his junior and senior seasons, and All-City by the ''New York Post'' and the ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'' as a senior.

College baseball

Paller then attended

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

('16), where he played

for the Columbia Lions baseball team, primarily playing

left field In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

. In his sophomore year in 2014 he batted .296/.351/.419 with 12 doubles (3rd in the league), 16 walks (9th), and 35 RBIs (leading the league) in 186 at bats, and was named All-

second team, and Academic All-Ivy League. In his junior year in 2015, Paller batted .264/.392/.472 with 7 home runs (4th in the league), 35 RBIs (4th), and 32 walks (leading the league) in 159 at bats. In the summer of 2015, Paller played for the

Green Bay Bullfrogs The Green Bay Rockers are a baseball team that plays in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league. The team joined the league as the Bullfrogs as an expansion franchise for the 2007 season along with the Battle Creek Bombers. Bef ...

in the

Northwoods League The Northwoods League is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. The league is amateur, and players are not paid, so as to maintain their college el ...

, a collegiate summer baseball league. He batted .345(7th in the league)/.433(8th)/.480 in 177 at bats. That same summer, he also played for the

Bourne Braves The Bourne Braves are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Bourne, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Braves play their home games at Doran Park on the c ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

. In 2016 he batted .302/.400.503(6th in the league) with 26 runs (7th), 13 doubles (3rd), 5 home runs (4th), 32 RBIs (2nd) and 24 walks (5th) in 149 at bats, and was named First Team All-Ivy League. Paller finished his Columbia career 4th in career doubles (43), 5th in walks (79), and 6th in RBIs (111).

Professional baseball

In 2016 he played for the

Lake Erie Crushers The Lake Erie Crushers are a professional baseball team based in Avon, Ohio, a city near the southern shore of Lake Erie. They are members of the West Division of the Frontier League, an independent baseball league which is not affiliated with Ma ...

of the

and the

Sussex County Miners The Sussex County Miners are a professional independent league baseball team based in the Augusta section of Frankford Township in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. The Miners are members of the East Division of the Frontier League, an ...

of the

. Paller batted a combined .215/.365/.341 in 135 at bats. In 2017, Paller played for the Birmingham-Bloomfield Beavers of the

. He batted .367/.557/.633(leading the league in each category), with 6 home runs (7th) and 37 walks (leading the league) in 90 at bats, and had 21 at bats for Lake Erie. In 2018 he played for Birmingham-Bloomfield, and batted .228/.354/.444 in 177 at bats. In 2021 he played for the Colorado Springs Snow Sox of the

Pecos League Pecos may refer to: Places * Pecos River, rises near Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States * Pecos, Texas, a city in Reeves County, Texas, United States * Pecos County, Texas, named for the Pecos River ** Pecos Spring, a spring * Pecos, New Mexico, ...

. He batted .421/.574/.614 in 88 at bats. In 2022, he again played for the Snow Sox. batting .271/.400/.271. On February 25, 2023, Paller signed with the

Idaho Falls Chukars The Idaho Falls Chukars are an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB) but is an MLB Partner League. They are located in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and play their home games at Melaleuca ...

of the Pioneer League. On August 2, 2023, Paller was released by the Chukars.

Team Israel

In 2019, Paller became an Israeli citizen so that he could compete for the

in the

. Paller played for the

in the outfield as the team played in the 2019 European Baseball Championship - B-Pool in early July 2019 in

Blagoevgrad Blagoevgrad ( bg, Благоевград ) is а town in Southwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Blagoevgrad Municipality and of Blagoevgrad Province. With a population of almost inhabitants, it is the economic and cultural centre ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, winning all of its games and advancing to the playoffs against Team Lithuania in the 2019 Playoff Series at the end of July 2019 for the last qualifying spot for the 2019 European Baseball Championship. He batted .273/.500(7th in the tournament)/.500 with two doubles (4th), one home run, and 10 walks (1st) in 22 at bats. He also played for Team Israel at the 2019 European Baseball Championship, batting .222/.417/.593 with one double, three home runs, and nine walks in 27 at bats. He played left field and center field for Team Israel at the

in Tokyo in the summer of 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Paller, Robb 1993 births Living people Baseball players from Brooklyn Baseball players from New York (state) Baseball outfielders Bourne Braves players Columbia Lions baseball players Lake Erie Crushers players Sussex County Miners players Pecos League Jewish American baseball players Israeli baseball players Israeli American Columbia College (New York) alumni Baseball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic baseball players for Israel 21st-century American Jews Berkeley Carroll School alumni