For years, Beth Tfiloh has been known primarily as a place to receive a strong Jewish education. The school isn’t considered a place to develop elite baseball talent, and baseball has never been the centerpiece. The Warriors secured their last MIAA C Conference championship in 2008.
According to fifth-year head coach Donald Wright, the last two seasons have marked a turning point, and now the belief inside the program feels different.
Part of that shift is because of the support of Dean Kremer, a starting pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles who remains deeply connected to the Jewish community and to programs like Beth Tfiloh.
As Wright told Glenn Clark Radio Feb. 10, Kremer shows up, gives generously with his time and motivates. He represents something powerful for young Jewish ballplayers who may not see themselves reflected often in professional baseball.
“There’s a lot of pride, as you might imagine, seeing a guy like Dean Kremer being successful for the Orioles,” Wright said. “He’s very, very generous with his time. He came out to meet with our varsity team this year, had breakfast with us, shared his own story — which was not a real common route to the major leagues.”
Kremer’s visits aren’t just brief pop-up appearances. They leave lasting impressions. Wright described how the players still reference him in conversations and how his message continues to circulate inside the clubhouse weeks later.
“He met with us about a little over a month ago, and it’s still reverberating throughout our clubhouse,” Wright said. “You hear the guys referring to him. There’s an argument over who gets to wear his jersey number.”
Wright said Kremer’s willingness to remain engaged, share his experiences and stay accessible has meant the world to Beth Tfiloh players.
“It just means a lot to these kids. It’s not every day obviously that a Jewish athlete performs at the level that Dean has been able to achieve, so for him to not only be a role model for our guys but share his time and his experience and help our team the way he has, it’s been tremendous,” Wright said.
Kremer is set to pitch for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic, while Baltimore-area native Spencer Horwitz is expected to start at first base. The roster represents not just talent, but a sense of identity, too. This representation has become a statement about the growing presence of Jewish players competing internationally.
It reflects something larger happening in Pikesville and northwest Baltimore County within the Jewish community.
“What we’ve established here now is really a very strong program and now we’re getting different responses from people in the community,” Wright said. “Athletes that would previously not have considered coming to Beth Tfiloh to play baseball are deciding to come here as a result. Our teams have been a lot more competitive in the last two years. … We’re really proud of what we’re building here at Beth Tfiloh and the baseball program.”
Team Israel’s 30-man roster for the WBC was officially revealed on Feb. 10 at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville. The decision by several Jewish major leaguers to represent Israel rather than Team USA resonates strongly with Wright and Beth Tfiloh’s players.
“There’s just not a lot of Jewish athletes in Major League Baseball, but the ones that are out there — a lot of them are opting to come and play for Team Israel,” Wright said. “They have the choice to play for Team USA and a lot of them are opting to play for Israel, and it just means the world to our guys.”
That sense of pride now feeds ambition. The Warriors are busy chasing victories, hoping to compete for its first MIAA C Conference championship title since 2008. The team will continue on to the 2026 Columbus Baseball Invitational (CBI) Jewish World Series in May. The Warriors placed fifth out of 20 schools in last year’s wood-bat tournament, which features Jewish day schools and high schools from across the country and Canada.
For a program once defined more by education than athletics, this has the potential to represent something larger than a title. It reflects growth, belief, and the power of seeing someone from your own community succeed in professional sports.
“It’s a good year for us. The team feels good about our chances, not only in the MIAA but out in Columbus,” Wright said. “If everything goes the way we hope it [does], we’ll be in that bus with an MIAA championship trophy riding out to try to win the Jewish World Series.”
For more from Wright, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox