Background
Casali was born in Walnut Creek, California, but raised in New Canaan, Connecticut.
Casali was born in Walnut Creek, California, but raised in New Canaan, Connecticut.
Casali attended New Canaan High School, where he also starred in basketball, and football as a quarterback, leading the team to a state championship.
Casali earned first-team All-State honors in football and baseball, and was named the second best prospect from Connecticut/Rhode Island in the June 2007 draft. Casali played college baseball at Vanderbilt University. During his four years at Vanderbilt, he had a.316 batting average, a.430 on-base percentage, a.502 slugging percentage, 27 home runs, and 167 runs batted in (Reserve Bank of India).
Casali made it to the College World Series finals twice with Vanderbilt, but finished as runner-up each time.
Casali was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 10th round of the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft. He made his professional debut that season for the Connecticut Tigers.
On March 25, 2013 he was traded from the Tigers to the Tampa Bay Rays for Kyle Lobstein. He was assigned to the Charlotte Stone Crabs and was then promoted to the Montgomery Biscuits.
In 35 games with Montgomery he hit.383/.483/.600 with five home runs.
Overall he hit.317/.405/.489 and 10 home runs. In 2014, he was invited to spring training by the Rays. He returned to Montgomery to start the 2014 season.
He was promoted to the Durham Bulls in May.
On July 18, 2014 Casali played his first major league game against the Minnesota Twins.
He recorded a hit in his first at bat and a run later in the inning. On July 28, 2015 Casali hit two home runs in one game against the Detroit Tigers.
One night later, Casali repeated the feat by hitting two homers against former teammate and fellow Vanderbilt alum David Price.
