Curtis Michael Casali (born November 9, 1988), is an American professional baseball catcher in the Atlanta Braves organization.
He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Tampa Bay Rays, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, and Seattle Mariners.
Casali played college baseball at Vanderbilt University, and was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 10th round of the 2011 MLB draft.
Casali made it to the College World Series semifinals in 2011 with Vanderbilt, but the team was eliminated by Florida.
[11] On March 25, 2013, the Tigers traded Casali to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for pitcher Kyle Lobstein.
[23] One night later, Casali repeated the feat by hitting two homers against former teammate and fellow Vanderbilt alum David Price.
[26] For Tampa Bay, he caught 36% of attempted basestealers, giving up 25 steals and catching 14 baserunners.
[12] He was removed from the 40–man roster and outrighted to Triple-A on November 6, 2017, before elected free agency later that day.
On March 21, 2018, Casali signed a minor league contract with the Tampa Bay Rays.
[32] On January 4, 2021, Casali signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract with the San Francisco Giants,[33] to serve as the primary backup to catcher Buster Posey.
During April 2021, Casali caught team shutouts in five consecutive starts (non-consecutive games).
[34] On June 17, in a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Casali recorded his first career triple off of D’Backs reliever Riley Smith.
[36] On March 22, 2022, Casali signed a $2.6 million contract with the Giants, avoiding salary arbitration.
[37] On August 2, 2022, Casali and Matthew Boyd were traded to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for Michael Stryffeler and Andy Thomas.
[43] On May 15, 2024, Casali signed a one-year, major league contract with the San Francisco Giants.