Dean Kremer

Dean Junior Kremer (Hebrew: דין קרמר; born January 7, 1996) is an Israeli–American professional baseball pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball (MLB). In 2015, he became the first Israeli drafted by an MLB team. He made his MLB debut in September 2020.

In international competition, Kremer pitched for the Team USA baseball team in the 2013 Maccabiah Games in Israel, winning a gold medal. The following two years he pitched for Israel in the qualifying for the European Baseball Championship, and won the Most Valuable Pitcher award in both 2014 and 2015. He also pitched in September 2016 in the qualifier for Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

Kremer pitched for San Joaquin Delta College in his freshman year in 2014, and was named a Third Team All-American. He was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 38th round of the 2015 Major League Baseball draft, becoming the first Israeli to ever be selected in the MLB draft, but chose not to sign. He was drafted again, this time by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 14th round of the 2016 Major League Baseball draft, and did sign. He threw a fastball in the 92–95 mph range that sometimes reached 97 miles per hour (156 km/h), a slider, a curveball, and a splitter. He pitched for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic. The Dodgers traded him to the Orioles at the 2018 trade deadline. In 2018, Kremer led all minor league pitchers in strikeouts. He made his MLB debut in September 2020, becoming the first Israeli citizen to pitch in the major leagues. Kremer pitched for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic in Miami and again in 2026.

Kremer was born and raised in Stockton, California, and is Jewish. He had his bar mitzvah in Israel. Discussing the decision by Jewish Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax to not pitch Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because the game fell on Yom Kippur, Kremer said: "I would do the same."

Kremer lives in Israel for two months of every year, and has dual Israeli-American citizenship. His parents Adi and Sigal Kremer are Israeli, and after they completed their service in the Israel Defense Forces they came together to the United States. His father played college tennis at the University of the Pacific, which he attended on a tennis scholarship. Kremer is fluent in Hebrew and the family speaks Hebrew at home.

He has two younger brothers, Ron (who is in the Israeli Army) and Niv. Kremer's grandparents live in Israel, in Tel Aviv and in Rishon LeZion, and all of his extended family other than his parents and youngest brother live in Israel. His great-uncle is American-Israeli businessman and philanthropist Haim Saban.

Kremer started playing baseball in Little League at the age of five.

Kremer attended Lincoln High School in Stockton, California, and graduated in 2013. There, he played baseball for two seasons as a right fielder and pitcher, and was twice named Second Team All-League. As a senior, on the mound for a significant amount for the first time, he was 6–2 with a 2.35 ERA, and 37 strikeouts in 41.2 innings.