Curt Casali is Back

Curt Casali will be back in the Bull City. The catcher, who hit .263 across 85 games for the Bulls in 2017, was re-signed by Tampa Bay as a minor league free agent on Wednesday.

In January Casali was signed by the Texas Rangers, but was released earlier this week. The Rays quickly jumped on the chance to bring back the 29-year-old, who has appeared in 183 games for the Bulls since 2014 and 161 games for the Rays over that same timeframe.

Casali, who was called up prior to Durham’s 2017 Governors’ Cup and Triple-A National Championship run, is ready to return to the Bull City. Here’s what he told the Tampa Bay Times:

“ Hopefully they see me as an insurance policy and I can come up and help if something unfortunate were to happen. Right now, I’m going to Durham to help them defend their national title.”

The Rays had signed three minor league free agents to serve as Durham’s catchers in Adam Moore, Xorge Carrillo and Johnny Monell. It seems highly unlikely the Bulls would carry all four players, but there is precedence for carrying three catchers, as Durham balanced three backstops for the majority of 2017.