Michael Raymond Kelly (born June 2, 1970) is an American former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

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 ...

for the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in ...

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home ve ...

, and

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fi ...

Amateur career

Kelly attended

Los Alamitos High School Los Alamitos High School (also known as Los Al) is a public school for grades 9 to 12 located in Los Alamitos, California, and also serving the city of Seal Beach and the community of Rossmoor. It is the only traditional high school in the Los ...

Los Alamitos, California Los Alamitos () is a city in Orange County, California. The city was incorporated in March 1960. The population was 11,780 at the 2020 census, up from 11,449 at the 2010 census. The adjacent unincorporated community of Rossmoor uses the same 9 ...

and

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. In his 1990 season with the Sun Devils, he hit .376 with 21 HR and 82 RBI. As a result of his fine season with Arizona State, he won the

Golden Spikes Award The Golden Spikes Award is bestowed annually to the best amateur baseball player in the United States. The award, created by USA Baseball and sponsored by the Major League Baseball Players Association, was first presented in 1978. It is given to ...

as the 1990 National Player of the Year. His 46 homers with ASU trail only

Bob Horner James Robert Horner (born August 6, 1957) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball and the Nippon Professional Baseball league as a third baseman and a first baseman from to , most prominently a ...

for most all-time in Sun Devil history. After the 1990 season, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Orleans Cardinals The Orleans Firebirds, formerly the Orleans Cardinals, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Orleans, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Firebirds play ...

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 ...

and was named a league all-star.

Professional career

Kelly was drafted 2nd overall by the Atlanta Braves in the 1991 amateur draft, and spent 6 years in the majors with 4 teams. He played in 327 major league games, hitting .241 with 22 home runs and 86 RBI. His best season came in 1998 with Tampa Bay. In 106 games he hit .240 with career highs in both homers (10) and RBI (33). Kelly will be remembered by Rays fans as being the starting left fielder for the team's first game in major league history. Kelly retired from the Yankees organization following the 2004 season after being released.

References

External links

1970 births Living people All-American college baseball players Arizona State Sun Devils baseball players Atlanta Braves players Baseball players from Los Angeles Chattanooga Lookouts players Cincinnati Reds players Colorado Rockies players Colorado Springs Sky Sox players Columbus Clippers players Durham Bulls players Golden Spikes Award winners Greenville Braves players Indianapolis Indians players Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball right fielders Omaha Royals players Orleans Firebirds players Richmond Braves players Tampa Bay Devil Rays players National College Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks players {{US-baseball-outfielder-1970s-stub