Tal Erel (טל אראל; born June 16, 1996) is an Israeli baseball player for 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 has played college baseball at

Lynn University Lynn University is a private university in Boca Raton, Florida. Founded in 1962, the university awards associate, baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral degrees. It is named for the Lynn family (Christine E. and Eugene M. Lynn). It has a total ...

. He played 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 1 ...

in Tokyo in the summer of 2021.

Early life

Erel was born in

Ramat Gan Ramat Gan ( he, רָמַת גַּן or , ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv and part of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. It is home to one of the world's major diamond exchanges, and man ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, to Yaron and Galit Erel, and lived for a time in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

(from ages six to ten), and

Givatayim Givatayim ( he, גִּבְעָתַיִים, lit. "two hills") is a city in Israel east of Tel Aviv. It is part of the metropolitan area known as Gush Dan. Givatayim was established in 1922 by pioneers of the Second Aliyah. In it had a population ...

, Israel."My Game,"
talerelbaseball.com. He has two siblings, Hadar and Tomer. He served in the Israel Defense Forces from 2014–17.">"Tal Erel; Israeli Baseball Player,"
talerelbaseball.com.

Baseball career

Europe

In 2016 Erel played for the Tempo Titans Prague in the Czech Republic 1st League. In 2017 he played for the

UVV Utrecht UVV Utrecht is a sports club based in Utrecht, Netherlands. It was founded in 1902. The club has teams in the following sports: football, tennis, baseball, softball and beach volleyball. The UVV baseball stadium has a capacity of 1,000. The U ...

in the Netherlands 1st League.

College

In 2017-18 he attended

Miami Dade College Miami Dade College (Miami Dade, MDC or Dade) is a public college in Miami, Florida. Founded in 1959, it has a total of eight campuses and twenty-one outreach centers throughout Miami-Dade County. It is the largest college in the Florida College S ...

. He then played baseball for the

Palm Beach State College Palm Beach State College is a public college in Lake Worth, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System. Palm Beach State College enrolls nearly 27,000 students in over 100 programs of study including bachelor of applied science, associa ...

Panthers as a switch-hitting

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

, as he studied Business Administration. He graduated in 2019 with an Associate in Arts degree, and was one of two Palm Beach players who won both the Florida College System Activities Association Academic Award and the

National Junior College Athletic Association The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

Academic Award. Starting in September 2019 he was a sophomore at

, and played baseball for the university's Fighting Knights. He is an investment management major, and earned a BA in 2021. If he plays on Team Israel in the 2020 Olympics he will be the second student-athlete in the university's history to compete in the Olympics, joining Melissa Ortiz who represented Colombia women's soccer in 2012 and 2016.

Team Israel

Erel has been a member of 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, ...

since 2011. He served as the bullpen catcher for the Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic. He appeared in three games as catcher as the team played in the

2019 European Baseball Championship - B-Pool 2019 European Baseball Championship - B-Pool was the second tier of Confederation of European Baseball men competition. It featured 14 teams, competing in two groups of 6 and 8 teams in early July 2019. The two group winners, Team Israel and Team ...

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 Macedo ...

, 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 played for Team Israel at the 2019 European Baseball Championship, batting .300 in ten at bats. Erel 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 in Tokyo. He played for Team Israel at the

in Tokyo in the summer of 2021, at catcher and as a pinch hitter.

References

External links

Tal Erel homepage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Erel, Tal 1996 births Living people Baseball catchers Israeli baseball players People from Ramat Gan People from Givatayim Baseball players from Miami 21st-century Israeli military personnel Miami Dade College alumni Palm Beach State Panthers baseball players 2019 European Baseball Championship players Lynn Fighting Knights baseball players Baseball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic baseball players of Israel