Ryan Alexander Casteel (born June 6, 1991) is an American former professional baseball catcher who spent his career in the Atlanta Braves, Colorado Rockies, and Seattle Mariners organizations.
After graduating, he went unselected in the 2009 Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft under the belief he would attend the University of Tennessee.
The next year, he had a .273 batting average alongside 1 home run, 30 RBI, and 8 stolen bases in 56 games for the Tri-City Dust Devils of the Low–A Northwest League.
He was named a midseason All-Star and the California League's Catcher of the Year after hitting .270/.352/.523 with career–highs in home runs (22) and RBI (76) in 108 games.
[6][7] Casteel played in the 2013 Australian Baseball League All-Star Game[8] and won the Helms Award as the ABL's Most Valuable Player.
[5] Casteel spent the majority of the 2015 season with the Albuquerque Isotopes of the Triple–A Pacific Coast League, missing a chunk of the year with a quadriceps injury.
Playing in 42 games split between Albuquerque, the Double–A New Britain Rock Cats, and the Low–A Boise Hawks, he accumulated a .306/.313/.425 batting line with 2 home runs and 22 RBI.
[24] He was assigned to the Braves' Triple–A affiliate, the Gwinnett Stripers, for whom he played in 68 games and hit .224/.299/.417 with 8 home runs and 28 RBI.
[30] Following his retirement Casteel was hired as a coach for the Atlanta Braves Triple-A affiliate Gwinnett Stripers for the 2024 season.