Christian Gabriel Bethancourt Ruiz (born September 2, 1991) is a Panamanian professional baseball catcher and first baseman in the Toronto Blue Jays organization.

[1] Bethancourt was signed as an undrafted international free agent and began his minor league career at the age of 16 in 2008.

[10] In 2014, Bethancourt began the year with the Gwinnett Braves of the Triple–A International League, and made his third consecutive All Star Futures Game on June 24.

[12] Bethancourt batted .240 with the Braves in 13 games, and was demoted to the minor leagues on July 21, when Gattis was activated from the disabled list.

[16] On June 6, Bethancourt hit his first career home run in the bottom of the ninth inning, off of Vance Worley, to give the Braves a 5–4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

[17] Bethancourt appeared in 29 games for the Braves in early 2015, batting .208/.231/.297 with a .528 OPS and six passed balls, before being sent to back down to Triple–A Gwinnett on June 15 after he made a series of defensive mistakes and failed to hit.

[16] He also was ranked third among National League catchers in most passed balls and tied for fourth in errors (3) while playing in only 29 games.

[21][22] On December 10, 2015, Bethancourt was traded to the San Diego Padres for right hander Casey Kelly and Ricardo Rodriguez.

[23] After spring training ended in April 2016, Bethancourt was named the backup to starting catcher Derek Norris.

[24] Bethancourt made his first career pitching appearance on May 31, a blowout loss against the Seattle Mariners, recording two outs, two walks, and a hit batsmen.

[25] He took the mound again on June 14, against the Miami Marlins, picking up his first strikeout as a pitcher, while yielding one hit and one walk in one inning.

[27] On April 1, 2017, the Padres announced that Bethancourt would work primarily as a reliever, while also seeing duties as a catcher, outfielder, and pinch hitter.

[28] Bethancourt struggled in four relief appearances, and the Padres outrighted him off of their 40-man roster to the El Paso Chihuahuas of the Triple–A Pacific Coast League, where he continued pitching.

On November 4, Bethancourt was removed from the 40–man roster and sent outright to Iowa, but he rejected the assignment and elected free agency.