Curt Casali

34-Year-Old CatcherC

Cincinnati Reds

2023 Stats

AVG

.149

RBI

Rest-of-Season Projections

AVG

RBI

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2023 Fantasy Outlook

Casali is the textbook definition of a backup catcher. He's appeared in the big leagues for nine consecutive years but has never received more than 256 plate appearances in a given season. He came to the plate 176 times for the Giants and Mariners last season and hit .203/.318/.331, good for a passable 92 wRC+, an exact match for his career mark. Being within striking distance of league-average at the plate while playing half your games at Great American Ball Park gives Casali a path to at least temporary fantasy value should Tyler Stephenson (who was limited to 50 games last season) get injured. Casali has had success in Cincinnati before, hitting .260/.345/.440 across 485 plate appearances from 2018 through 2020, so there's reason to be optimistic. Of course, he's also now 34 years old, so a step back is more likely than a return to his peak numbers. Read Past Outlooks

RANKSFrom Preseason

#599

ADP

Overall

League Majors

Bats R

Throws R

40 Man Yes

Height 6'2"

Weight 220

DOB 11/9/1988

Born Walnut Creek, CA

College Vanderbilt

Drafted 10th Rd 2011 DET

Playing behind Stephenson, Maile

CCincinnati Reds

May 24, 2023

Casali remains out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Cardinals.

ANALYSIS
Casali has now started in just two of the Reds' last 10 games, and he's recorded just one hit in 22 at-bats dating back to April 19. The 34-year-old appears to have slipped to third on the Reds' depth chart at catcher behind Tyler Stephenson and Luke Maile.

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Batting Stats

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2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2023 MLB Game Log

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2022 MLB Game Log

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2021 MLB Game Log

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2020 MLB Game Log

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2019 MLB Game Log

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2018 MLB Game Log

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Minor League Game Log

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Batting Order Slot Breakdown

vs Right-Handed Pitchers

vs RHP

vs Left-Handed Pitchers

vs LHP

Left/Right Batting Splits

Since 2021

+6%

OPS vs RHP

2023

+82%

OPS vs RHP

2022

+58%

OPS vs LHP

2021

+78%

OPS vs RHP

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2021vs Left	.601	141	15	5	15	0	.153	.279	.322
Since 2021vs Right	.640	322	29	5	30	0	.220	.322	.318
2023vs Left	.259	17	1	0	0	0	.071	.188	.071
2023vs Right	.471	39	3	0	2	0	.182	.289	.182
2022vs Left	.844	68	13	4	11	0	.218	.353	.491
2022vs Right	.533	108	7	1	6	0	.194	.296	.237
2021vs Left	.418	56	1	1	4	0	.102	.214	.204
2021vs Right	.742	175	19	4	22	0	.245	.345	.397
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Home/Away Batting Splits

Since 2021

+6%

OPS at Home

2023

+2%

OPS on Road

2022

+39%

OPS on Road

2021

+44%

OPS at Home

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2021Home	.645	226	20	5	28	0	.222	.307	.338
Since 2021Away	.610	237	24	5	17	0	.178	.311	.299
2023Home	.399	29	2	0	0	0	.185	.214	.185
2023Away	.408	27	2	0	2	0	.100	.308	.100
2022Home	.531	75	5	1	5	0	.190	.293	.238
2022Away	.737	101	15	4	12	0	.212	.337	.400
2021Home	.771	122	13	4	23	0	.250	.336	.435
2021Away	.537	109	7	1	3	0	.163	.287	.250
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Stat Review

How does Curt Casali compare to other hitters?

This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.

BB/K
Walk to strikeout ratio
BB Rate
The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
K Rate
The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
BABIP
Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
ISO
Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
AVG
Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
OBP
On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
SLG
Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
OPS
On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
wOBA
Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
Exit Velocity
The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
Hard Hit Rate
A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
Barrels/PA
The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
Expected BA
Expected Batting Average.
Expected SLG
Expected Slugging Percentage.
Sprint Speed
The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
Ground Ball %
The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
Line Drive %
The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
Fly Ball %
The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.

BB/K

0.36

BB Rate

8.9%

K Rate

25.0%

BABIP

.212

ISO

.000

AVG

.149

OBP

.259

SLG

.149

OPS

.408

wOBA

.206

Exit Velocity

80.9 mph

Hard Hit Rate

14.3%

Barrels/PA

1.7%

Expected BA

.178

Expected SLG

.235

Sprint Speed

21.0 ft/sec

Ground Ball %

39.4%

Line Drive %

18.2%

Fly Ball %

42.4%

Advanced Batting Stats

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Additional Stats

Games By Position

Defensive Stats

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Batted Ball Stats

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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers

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Past Fantasy Outlooks

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

Casali joined the Giants last season and had a .663 OPS while operating as the backup to Buster Posey. Casali and Joey Bart are set to split catching duties this season in the wake of Posey's retirement. While Bart has the better bat, Casali is a more reliable defensive catcher who also hit .210/.313/.350 with five home runs and 26 RBI last season.

Casali has now put together three partial seasons with an OPS north of .800, four if you want to count 2017 with the Rays when had just 13 plate appearances. After posting a .224/.366/.500 line with the Reds in 2020, he was still non-tendered by the team in December, one of a slew of players who got such a treatment despite seemingly having a good year. Of course, the Reds have Tyler Stephenson waiting in the wings, and he is a legitimate prospect and comes at a cheaper price, which was important to the Reds heading into the 2020-21 offseason. Casali is a lefty-masher who now joins the Giants, behind not one but possibly two generational catchers, depending on what they do with Joey Bart to begin the season.

Casali served as Tucker Barnhart's backup in his second season with Cincinnati in 2019 and performed pretty much as a backup catcher should, registering a .251/.331/.411 slash line with eight home runs in 236 plate appearances. The batting average was a 42-point dropoff over the mark he posted in 2018, though it came with a modest increase in ISO (.159) and a more significant jump in walk rate (10.6 BB%). Casali's lower average is partly attributable to a downturn in contact rate, which dropped from 77.1% in 2018 to 71.5% last season. He also seemed to make a concerted effort to leave the yard more often, increasing his average launch angle from 13.5 to 19.0 degrees and his flyball rate from 21.8% to 31.8%. Casali figures to fall behind Barnhart again next season, which is just fine for a team with more pressing priorities. From a fantasy perspective, Casali is likely to remain irrelevant.

In nearly every season you can find a handful of backup catchers who post good rate stats in a limited sample, but who are also unlikely to produce at that rate the following season, let alone play often enough for you to roster them on your fantasy team. That pretty much applies to Casali, who hit .293/.355/.450 in 156 plate appearances as Tucker Barnhart's caddy in 2018. He even played six games at first base when Joey Votto was on the DL. Unfortunately for Casali, Barnhart is the superior defender behind the plate and is signed to a multi-year deal, so the path to playing time is blocked for him in Cincinnati. Oh well, at least he'll have a good Strat-o-Matic card this year.

Following a disappointing 2016 campaign, Casali spent most of 2017 on the farm after Jesus Sucre beat him out for the backup catcher job out of spring training. He hit .263 with a .351 on-base percentage across 85 games with Triple-A Durham, but didn't see the majors until rosters expanded in September due to the strong play of Sucre as the team's backup and his own lack of power with the Bulls (15 extra-base hits in 343 plate appearances). The 29-year-old did compile a .333/.462/.667 line with one homer in 13 plate appearances with the Rays last season, though the sample size is too small to draw any conclusions from. He owns a career .199/.285/.385 line across four major-league seasons. After signing with the Angels in the offseason, he'll have a chance to win the backup catcher job with his new team.

Casali endured a mostly miserable 2016 campaign at the plate, slashing just .186/.273/.336 over 256 plate appearances, although, as he had in 2015, he was able to offer some pop. The 28-year-old blasted eight homers, and 18 of his 42 hits went for extra bases. Casali figures to split time with Luke Maile to begin 2017, but they will simply be buying time for Tampa Bay until Wilson Ramos is healthy. Casali will chip in the occasional long ball, but due to what is once again likely to be limited playing time, he would only be worthy of consideration in very deep formats.

Not typically regarded as a major offensive threat, Casali surpised many with his productivity and power in 2015. In a small sample size of 113 plate appearances, the backstop hit 10 home runs and posted an .898 OPS despite a paltry .238 batting average. This was a stark contrast to the .674 OPS he posted with Triple-A Durham, but is still promising considering the lack of strong-hitting catchers the Rays have recently had. The 26-year-old has plenty of competition at catcher for the Rays, including Hank Conger, Rene Rivera and Justin O'Conner, but if he can show that his production wasn't a fluke, Casali could see more time with the big club in 2016.

Let’s be frank – the Rays care more about how catchers handle the pitching staff and frame pitches than they do offensive abilities at the plate. They haven’t developed an offensive catcher since Toby Hall and Casali is not going to end that trend. The organization likes how he works behind the plate, but his bat has been exposed since he got to Triple-A. With the offseason acquisition of Rene Rivera, Casali will go to Durham and split playing time with bigger prospect Justin O’Conner who has more offensive upside. Even in deep, two-catcher AL-only leagues, Casali is unlikely to offer a useful contribution.

More Fantasy News

One of three catchers on roster

CCincinnati Reds

March 10, 2023

The Reds are planning to carry three catchers on their Opening Day roster, which means that both Casali and Luke Maile will make the team as backups behind Tyler Stephenson, C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic reports.

ANALYSIS
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