ATLANTA — Former
Savannah State University baseball standout
Dexter Kelley made his Major League Baseball debut on Friday night as a member of the officiating crew of the game between the Atlanta Braves and the San Diego Padres at Truist Park.
Kelley, 36, served as the second base umpire in the first game of the three-game series. He worked first base Saturday and is scheduled to be behind home plate Sunday as the series wraps up.
Although it marked his MLB officiating debut, the Augusta, Georgia, native — now residing in Fayetteville, Georgia — was not alone. His wife, son, parents, friends and relatives were in attendance to witness the milestone.
The road to "The Show" is usually a long and slow climb up the ladder for umpires who normally call games at the high school and college levels before being selected to work Single A, Double A and Triple A games. With just 76 full-time MLB umpiring positions and low turnover, opportunities are rare.
Major League Baseball invites the top umpires to work spring training games and some even get picked to be on-call during the regular season to fill in in case of illness or other absences.
Kelley was among 21 umpires selected in mid-February to work 2025 Major League Baseball spring training games.
Kelley was an outfielder with Savannah State for four seasons (2008-11). During his junior year, the Augusta, Georgia, native was second in NCAA Division I with .88 stolen bases per game (his total of 44 steals was fourth).
After earning his undergraduate degree from SSU, Kelley began umpiring high school games before being invited to the MLB umpiring camp. He showed promise and earned a scholarship to another camp in Fort Myers, Florida, then received another scholarship to the Wendelstedt Umpire School (named after legendary umpire Harry Wendelstedt) in Daytona Beach.
Kelley graduated at the top of his class and eventually began working Gulf Coast League games. Since then, he's climbed from rookie ball to the New York-Penn League, to the Single A Florida State League, to the Double A Southern League was working the AAA League games before getting his shot with the major leagues.
Back in 2022, Kelley had the opportunity to work several events during the week leading up to the MLB All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
He was behind the plate in the MLB and USA Baseball High School All-American Game, at third base for the Futures Game, at first base for the Celebrity All-Star Softball Game and in the outfield during the Home Run Derby.
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ABOUT THE SOUTHERN INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (SIAC)
The SIAC is a NCAA athletic conference consisting primarily of historically black colleges and universities with headquarters in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The SIAC includes 15 member institutions (Albany State University, Allen University, Benedict College, Central State University, Clark Atlanta University, Edward Waters University, Fort Valley State University, Kentucky State University, Lane College, LeMoyne-Owen College, Miles College, Morehouse College, Savannah State University, Spring Hill College, and Tuskegee University), which are located within a contiguous seven-state footprint (Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee and Ohio). The SIAC sponsors nine men's and seven women's sports and is a proud member of the NCAA Division II. For more information, visit
www.thesiac.com.