Ryan Dalton Helsley (born July 18, 1994) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2019.

Amateur career

Helsley attended Sequoyah High School in

Tahlequah, Oklahoma Tahlequah ( ; ''Cherokee'': ᏓᎵᏆ, ''daligwa'' ) is a city in Cherokee County, Oklahoma located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It is part of the Green Country region of Oklahoma and was established as a capital of the 19th-cent ...

, where he played

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, and football along with running track. Undrafted out of high school in the

2013 MLB draft The 2013 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2013. The first two rounds were broadcast from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. Each team received one selection per round, going in ...

, he enrolled at

Northeastern State University Northeastern State University (NSU) is a public university with its main campus in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The university also has two other campuses in Muskogee and Broken Arrow as well as online. Northeastern is the oldest institution of high ...

where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

. In 2014, as a freshman, he went 7–4 with a 4.60 ERA in 14 games (nine starts) and was named the MIAA Freshman of the Year. As a sophomore, he pitched to a 14–8 record and 4.06 ERA in innings pitched. After his sophomore season, he was drafted by the

in the fifth round of the 2015 MLB draft and he signed.

Professional career

After signing, Helsley made his professional debut with the

Johnson City Cardinals The Johnson City Cardinals were a Minor League Baseball team based in Johnson City, Tennessee. The team was affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals organization from 1975 through 2020 and played in the Rookie-level Appalachian League. The team wo ...

and spent all of 2015 there, posting a 2.01 ERA in innings. In 2016, he pitched for the

Peoria Chiefs The Peoria Chiefs are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. The team was established in 1983 as the Peoria Suns. They are located in Peoria, Illinois, and are named for the Peor ...

, where he posted a 10–2 record with a 1.61 ERA in 17 starts and was named a

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

All-Star. Helsley started 2017 with the

Palm Beach Cardinals The Palm Beach Cardinals are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They are located in the town of Jupiter in Palm Beach County, Florida, and play their home games at Rog ...

and after going 8–2 with a 2.69 ERA in 17 games (16 starts), he was promoted to the

Springfield Cardinals The Springfield Cardinals are a Minor League Baseball team based in Springfield, Missouri. They compete as a member of the Texas League's North Division. The Cardinals began play in 2005. The team is owned by the 11-time Major League Baseball ...

in July. In six starts for Springfield, he was 3–1 with a 2.67 ERA. He also made one start for the

Memphis Redbirds The Memphis Redbirds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They are located in Memphis, Tennessee, and are named for their Major League Baseball affiliate. The Redbir ...

at the end of the season. Following the season, he was named the Florida State League Pitcher of the Year. Helsley began 2018 with Springfield and was promoted to Memphis during the season. However, shoulder fatigue ended his season in June. In seven starts for Springfield he was 3–2 with a 4.39 ERA, and in five starts for Memphis he pitched to a 2–1 record and a 3.71 ERA. The Cardinals added Helsley to their 40-man roster after the 2018 season. Helsley began 2019 back with Memphis. On April 16, he was recalled to the major leagues for the first time. He made his debut that night, throwing two and a third innings in relief and recording a single in his first major league at bat. Helsley was placed on the injured list on June 13 with right shoulder impingement, and was reassigned to Memphis following his activation on July 3. Helsley was recalled for the final time on August 4, spending the remainder of his 2019 regular season in St. Louis' bullpen. Over relief innings with the Cardinals, Helsley went 2–0 with a 2.95 ERA, striking out 32. In that year's postseason, Helsley pitched innings with no earned runs and 8 strikeouts. Helsley began the 2020 season with St. Louis. On August 7, it was announced he had tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. Helsley finished the pandemic-shortened season with a 1–1 record, 5.25 ERA and one save in 12 innings of work. In 2021, Helsley appeared in 51 games with the Cardinals in which he went 6-4 with a 4.56 ERA and 47 strikeouts over innings before he was shut down in mid-August with knee and elbow injures. In 2022, Helsley compiled a first-half 5–1 record with a 0.73 ERA, 54 strikeouts, and seven saves over 37 innings, and was consequently selected to represent the Cardinals at the

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or d ...

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. On September 16, Helsley pitched an

immaculate inning In baseball, a strikeout occurs when a pitcher throws three strikes to a batter during his time at bat. An immaculate inning occurs when a pitcher strikes out all three batters he faces in one inning, using the minimum possible number of pitche ...

against the Cincinnati Reds striking out Kyle Farmer, Jake Fraley, and Donovan Solano in the 9th inning. Helsley finished the 2022 season with 54 relief appearances in which he went 9-1 with a 1.25 ERA, 94 strikeouts, and 19 saves over innings. In the post-season, Helsley, who had jammed fingers on his throwing hand in his final regular-season appearance, was the loser in Game 1 of the

2022 National League Wild Card Series The 2022 National League Wild Card Series were two best-of-three playoff series in Major League Baseball (MLB) to determine the participating teams of the 2022 National League Division Series. Both Wild Card Series began on October 7, with Game ...

, allowing a single, two walks, and a hit batter in successive 9th-inning plate appearances for four earned runs in a game the Philadelphia Phillies won 6-3.

Personal life

Helsley is a Christian. Helsley and his wife, Alex, married in July 2021. Their first child, a daughter, was born in August 2022. Helsley is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and has some ability to speak the Cherokee language. He grew up a Cardinals fan.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Helsley, Ryan 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Oklahoma Baseball players from Oklahoma Major League Baseball pitchers Northeastern State RiverHawks baseball players St. Louis Cardinals players National League All-Stars Johnson City Cardinals players Peoria Chiefs players Palm Beach Cardinals players Springfield Cardinals players Memphis Redbirds players Cherokee Nation sportspeople Native American sportspeople 21st-century Native Americans