Ryan John "Rowdy" Tellez (/təˈlɛz/ tə-LEZ;[1] born March 16, 1995) is an American professional baseball first baseman who is a free agent.

He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers, and Pittsburgh Pirates.

Born in Sacramento, California, he is the oldest child of Greg and Lori (née Bernick) Tellez.

[4][5] Through 2022, he was 3rd in career home run frequency (17.46) on the all-time list of Jewish major leaguers (behind Hank Greenberg and Joc Pederson).

[11] Entering the draft, Tellez was ranked as the 59th-best player available by Baseball America, but he was passed over for a number of rounds as he had accepted a scholarship to attend the University of Southern California.

[13] Baseball America rated him the best power hitter in the Blue Jays minor league organization.

[13] In the offseason, he played 21 games with the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, batting .293 and leading the team with four home runs and 17 RBIs.

[40] Tellez became the third rookie in Blue Jays history to hit 21 or more home runs, joining Eric Hinske (24 in 2002) and J.P. Arencibia (23 in 2011).

[42] On August 20 he hit a home run with an exit velocity of 117.4 mph, the highest for a home run by a Blue Jay in the Statcast era (since 2015), and the third-highest exit velocity of any batted ball for all major leaguers in 2020 (behind Pete Alonso (118.4) and Gary Sanchez (117.5)).

[42][43] On July 6, 2021, Tellez was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for pitchers Trevor Richards and Bowden Francis.

[45] He hit a two-run home run in the first game of the 2021 NLDS off Charlie Morton, providing the winning margin as the Brewers went on to beat the Atlanta Braves 2–1.

On May 4, 2022, Tellez set a Milwaukee Brewers record with eight RBIs in one game, doing so with a double and two home runs in an 18–4 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

[53] On January 13, 2023, Tellez agreed to a one-year, $4.95 million contract with the Brewers, avoiding salary arbitration.

[54] Though his season started off with him batting .244/.330/.500 and through the beginning of June and with 12 home runs in the first half, his production declined thereafter as he had only one home run in the second half after he spent six weeks on the injured list, first with right forearm inflammation and then with a torn fingernail and fractured left ring finger that required 17 stitches.

[55][56][57][58] He pitched a scoreless ninth inning to close out a 16–1 away win over the Miami Marlins on September 22 which clinched a postseason berth for the Brewers.

[51] His maximum exit velocity on batted balls, which was 114.8 mph, was in the top 6% of MLB batters for the fifth year in a row.

[61][62] He played in 131 games for the Pirates in 2024, slashing .243/.299/.392 with 13 home runs and 56 RBIs over 421 plate appearances, with a maximum exit velocity of 115.5 mph that was 20th-highest in MLB for the year, as on defense his .998 fielding percentage was second-highest among NL first basemen.

[65][63] Tellez played for Mexico in the 2023 World Baseball Classic as a designated hitter, slashing .280/.333/.440 including one home run and five RBI.

[67] Tellez's mother, Lori, was diagnosed with stage IV melanoma in late 2016 and later she battled brain cancer.