Ryan John Tellez...Attended Elk Grove (CA) High School, the same school as former Blue Jays catcher Buck Martinez...Ranked as the 59th-best player available by Baseball America entering the 2013 draft...Grew up dirt biking and enjoys hunting and fishing...Participated in the 2020 Blue Jays Winter Tour in Calgary, AB.
2020
Drove in runs at a rate of 4.91 AB/RBI, 10th best in the AL (min. 100 AB)...Went 16-for-46 (.348) with four doubles, five home runs and 15 RBI in 14 games at Sahlen Field...Batted .333 (9-for-27) vs. left-handed pitchers while hitting all eight of his home runs vs. right-handers...Belted his 1st home run of the season on July 27 at WAS...Cranked a 459-foot bomb on Aug. 12 vs. MIA for a career-long (455 feet on Sept. 2, 2019 at ATL)...Hit his 3rd home run on Aug. 14 vs. TB, homering in back-to-back games for the 4th time in his career...In Game 2 of a doubleheader on Aug. 20 vs. PHI, laced a home run with an exit velo of 117.4 MPH, the highest for a home run by a Blue Jay in the Statcast era (since 2015), surpassing Teoscar Hernández (115.9 on Aug. 12, 2020 vs. MIA)…it was the 4th-hardest-hit ball by any player this season...Homered twice on Aug. 26 vs. BOS for his 4th career multi-HR game and went 3-for-4 with a season-high four RBI...Hit his 8th homer while recording his 5th three-hit game of 2020 on Sept. 6 at BOS...gave him 11 career home runs vs. BOS, seven more than he has vs. any other club...according to Elias, hitting 33.3% (11/33) of his homers vs. Boston is the highest percentage among all active players (min. 30 HR) vs. a single opponent...Strung together a career-long nine-game hitting streak from Aug. 30-Sept. 7 (8G from May 12-23, 2019), going 14-for-33 (.424) with two doubles, two home runs and six RBI over that stretch (.474 OBP, .667 SLG)...Placed on the injured list with a right knee strain from Sept. 9 until the end of the season...suffered the injury chasing a pop foul into the bullpen down the right-field line at Sahlen Field...His 66 extra-base hits are tied for 3rd most all-time by a Blue Jay in his first 169 career games (Eric Hinske - 71; Fred McGriff - 67; Devon Travis - 66)...Made his postseason debut in Game 1 of the ALWC on Sept. 29 at TB, his 1st game back from the IL...entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the 8th...singled and eventually scored the Jays’ only run...Became the 2nd player in team history with a postseason pinch-hit and a run scored, joining Ed Sprague who did so with a homer in Game 2 of the 1992 ALCS vs. OAK.
2019
Hit .270 (31-for-115) vs. left-handed pitchers and .208 (53-for-255) vs. righties ... Recorded his 1st career pinch-hit home run on March 31 vs. DET as he tied the game, 3-3, in the 8th inning with a three-run homer ... Belted his 3rd home run of the season on April 11 at BOS...The 115.2 MPH exit velocity was the highest for a Toronto home run in the Statcast era (since 2015) ... On April 20 at OAK, hit a three-run homer in the 4th inning for his 4th long-ball of the year...Added a single and a double for his 3rd career three-hit game ... Recorded his 1st career grand slam on April 23 vs. SF...Became the 9th Blue Jays rookie (10th time) all-time to hit a grand slam (last: Devon Travis on May 3, 2015 at CLE) and the 5th youngest Blue Jay all-time to do so (24 years, 38 days)...Marked his 1st career homer off of a LHP and his 1st four-RBI game... Hit a two-run homer in the 4th inning on May 21 vs. BOS...Added a three-run blast in the 5th for his 1st career multi-HR game…Set a career-high with his five-RBI effort…Became the 5th Toronto rookie all-time with at least two home runs and five RBI in a game... Notched his 1st career extra-inning home run as he tied the game, 5-5, in the 12th inning on May 22 vs. BOS…Was his then team-leading 9th home run of the season…Became the 1st player in franchise history to hit 13 home runs in his first 65 MLB games…His 39 RBI in that span were 3rd most (Josh Phelps - 45; Junior Felix - 43)...Tied the record for the latest game-tying home run in team history, joining Tony Fernandez who did so in the 12th on July 3, 1988 vs. OAK…Homered in back-to-back games for the 1st time in his career ... Strung together a career-best eight-game hitting streak from May 12-23...Batted .323 (10-for-31) with a pair of doubles and a trio of homers over that stretch ... His .558 SLG through his first 50 MLB games was the highest by a Blue Jay all-time, while he also tied for 1st with 10 home runs and tied for 2nd with 31 RBI ... On June 12 at BAL, became the 1st rookie in team history to hit two grand slams in the same season (Glenallen Hill had one in 1989 and another in 1990 while still within his rookie eligibility)...Became the 28th Blue Jay all-time with multiple slams in the same year (last: Curtis Granderson in 2018)...Also nabbed his 1st career stolen base ... Hit a three-run blast and a solo homer on June 19 vs. LAA for his 2nd career multi-HR game…Gave him 17 home runs for his career, the most by any Blue Jays batter through his first 85 MLB games (Fred McGriff - 16; Eric Hinske - 16)... Optioned to Triple-A Buffalo on July 15 and recalled again on Aug. 13...In 26 games for the Bisons, hit .366 (34-for-93) with 16 extra-base hits and 21 RBI (.688 SLG, 1.138 OPS) ... Tied the game in the 9th inning on Aug. 21 at LAD with his 15th home run of the year...Was his 7th home run in the 7th inning or later ... Connected for his 2nd pinch-hit home run of the season on Sept. 2 at ATL...Became the 3rd rookie in team history with two pinch-hit homers, joining Al Woods (1977) and Jesse Barfield (1982) ... Hit his 17th home run on Sept. 3 at ATL...Marked the 2nd time in his career to hit home runs in back-to-back games ... Recorded his 19th home run of the season on Sept. 11 at BOS, homering in consecutive games for the 3rd time in his career...Surpassed Jesse Barfield (18 in 1982) for the 4th most home runs by a Blue Jays rookie in a single season...Marked his 7th homer vs. Boston, the most home runs by any player against the Red Sox in 2019 ... Set two career highs on Sept. 18 at BAL as he drew three walks and scored three runs in the game ... Belted a solo home run on Sept. 25 vs. BAL to become the 4th rookie in team history with a 20+ homer season, joining Eric Hinske (24 in 2002), J.P. Arencibia (23 in 2011) and Fred McGriff (20 in 1987)…Added another solo shot two innings later for his 3rd career multi-HR game, giving him 21 total for the year ... Reached base in 18 of 40 plate appearances over his last 10 games for a .450 OBP (4-1B, 4-2B, 2 HR, 7BB, HBP) ... Slugged .586 in September, 4th best among AL rookies and 20th among all AL batters.
2018
Among AL rookies in September, ranked 2nd in SLG (.638), 3rd in doubles (9), 4th in OPS (.943), 6th in AVG (.328), T-7th in HR (4) and T-7th in RBI (14) ... Batted .270 (106-for-393) with 22 doubles, 13 home runs and 50 RBI across 112 games for Triple-A Buffalo ... Called up from the Bisons on Sept. 4 ... Made his MLB debut as a pinch-hitter on Sept. 5 vs. TB... Hit an RBI double on the 1st pitch he saw... Became the 7th player in team history to record a hit on his 1st MLB pitch and the 3rd in club history to have a pinch-hit extra-base hit in his 1st MLB plate appearance (Al Woods - HR in 1977; John-Ford Griffin - 2B in 2005) ... Doubled in his first two plate appearances on Sept. 6 vs. CLE to become the 1st player in the live-ball era to have an XBH in each of his first three MLB PA...Added a double in the 8th to also become the 1st player with four XBH in his first five plate appearances...Became the 1st Blue Jay all-time with four extra-base hits in his first two games ... Doubled twice more on Sept. 7 vs. CLE to become the 1st player since 1913 with six XBH in his first eight plate appearances... Became the 1st player with six doubles in his first three MLB games...Became the first rookie with six doubles in any three-game stretch since Joe DiMaggio in 1936...Tied an MLB record with six XBH in his first three career games (Chris Dickerson: six in 2008) ... Hit his 1st MLB HR on Sept. 8 vs. CLE, a solo shot off of Adam Plutko in the 5th inning... Became the 1st MLB player (since 1913) to record seven XBH in his first four career games…Became the 4th player in the live-ball era to have each of his first seven hits go for extras...Also singled for his 8th hit, the most ever by a Blue Jay through their first four MLB games ... On Sept. 11 at BOS, became the 1st MLB player (since 1913) to record seven doubles in his first seven career games... Tied the MLB record with four others with eight XBH in first seven contests (Mitchell Page in 1977, Alvin Davis in 1984, Mark Quinn in 1999, Jorge Soler in 2014) ... Hit his 2nd HR and his 8th double while recording his 1st multi-RBI game on Sept. 20 vs. TB... His eight doubles tied Adam Lind for most by a Toronto batter in their first 14 MLB games...Gave him 10 XBH, surpassing Lind (nine in 2006) for the most by a Blue Jay in his first 14 career contests...Had 10 XBH in his first 40 PA, tying Taylor Teagarden (2008) for the most by any player since tracking began in 1913 ... Notched his 3rd HR and his 9th double on Sept. 22 vs. TB...His 12 XBH in his first 16 games tied for 4th most by any player since tracking began in 1913, behind only Joe DiMaggio (1936), Chris Dickerson (2008) and Trevor Story (2016), who each had 13... Joined Jeff Francoeur (12 in 2005) as the only players since 1913 with 12 XBH in their first 48 PA (courtesy STATS) ... Golfed out his 4th Major League home run on Sept. 28 at TB... Was his 3rd HR vs. Tampa Bay and his 2nd off Tyler Glasnow (also Sept. 22)...His 13 XBH tied for the most all-time by a Blue Jay through his first 21 MLB games (Brett Lawrie - 2011).
2017
Assigned to Triple-A Buffalo at the end of spring training and spent the entire season there ... Homered twice in his AAA debut on April 8 vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre ... After that initial game, struggled for much of April, batting .194 in the month...Had his average reach .228 on May 11, only to see it dip to .203 at the start of July and down to .199 at the end of the month ... Batted .331 (32-for-103) for the month of August with eight extra-base hits and 14 RBI while drawing 12 walks (.388 OBP, .776 OPS) ... Finished the season with a line of .222/.295/.333 over 122 games while matching a career high with 29 doubles ... Posted a .989 fielding percentage while playing exclusively at first base.
2016
Hit .335 (86-for-257) in 72 games from June through August of 2016 while with Double-A New Hampshire ... In 75 games batting cleanup in 2016, hit .317 with a .998 OPS with 38 of his 86 hits going for extra bases (20-2B, 18-HR) ... Set several career-highs in 2016, including games (124), hits (130), doubles (29), home runs (23), RBI (81), walks (63), strikeouts (92) and slugging (.530)...Ranked 3rd in the Eastern League with a .917 OPS, T-4th in HR, 6th in RBI, 9th in average (.297) and 10th in doubles ... Received several awards in 2016, including being named an MiLB.com Organization All-Star, a Double-A All-Star by Baseball America, an Eastern League Mid-Season All-Star and an Eastern League Post-Season All-Star.
2015
Recorded his 1st professional multi-home run game on July 3, 2015 vs. the Brevard County Manatees, hitting two in the contest ... Hit a combined .299 (35-for-117) with runners in scoring position during the 2015 campaign ... Was bestowed several honours over the course of the 2015 season, including being named a Midwest League All-Star, three Player of the Week awards (April 27-May 3 and May 11-17 with Class-A Lansing; June 22-28 with Advanced-A Dunedin) and was named to the All-Prospect team and named a Rising Star in the Arizona Fall League ... Was recognized by Baseball America in 2015 as the best hitting prospect in the Midwest League.
