After a nearly three-month absence, the White Sox have put a catcher back in the mix. Chicago announced Monday that Kyle Teel he was placed on the 60-day disabled list. He will fill a vacancy on the South Siders’ 40-man roster. His co-star and former high-flyer Edgar Quero optioned to Triple-A Charlotte to make room on the active roster.
Teel has been out since suffering a Grade 2 hamstring strain during the World Baseball Classic. He was originally slated to miss four to six weeks with that injury, but during a rehab game in mid-May, the 24-year-old suffered an LCL in his right knee, sidelining him for another three to six weeks. He was able to come back on the short end of that timeline and is now in line to make his season debut tonight.
The White Sox added Teel as one of the frontrunners in a trade for the 2024-25 season. Garrett Crochet to the Red Sox. Assuming we start tonight, one-third of the ChiSox roster will have been acquired through that trade. Second baseman Chase Meidroth and foreign player Braden Montgomery both came to Chicago from Boston as part of that Crochet blockbuster. The former has taken over their everyday duties at second base, while Montgomery is still getting his feet wet in the majors and hopes to solidify his place in the everyday lineup.
Teel and current prospect Quero were both considered top 100 hitters before their major league debuts, but Teel made a strong impression last year, hitting .273/.375/.411 with eight homers in 297 plate appearances as a rookie. He hit .387/.441/.613 in eight Triple-A rehab games and looks poised to pick up where he left off.
Meanwhile, Quero saw its stock continue to sink. Last year’s .268/.333/.365 slash was better than catcher average, but Quero tied it with some of the worst defensive marks at his position. His defense this year is still below average (though not to last year’s level), and Quero has seen his offensive production crater. In 172 plate appearances, he posted a miserable .187/.253/.233 slash with only three extra-base hits (two homers, one double). Missed DFA download time Drew Romohe also doesn’t play but plays to protect the sound at least.
The White Sox catchers have been far and away the least productive in Major League Baseball this season. Quero, Romo and Reese McGuire they took all of the team’s playing time behind the plate and combined to hit .167/.242/.268. That batting average and on-base percentage last in the majors. White Sox catchers lead Yankees catchers by a slim real margin (.268 to .267), keeping them out of last place in all three slash stats. Unsurprisingly, the White Sox’ 42 wRC+ from their bullpen is the worst in baseball.
Teel will return to help the Sox fill perhaps their biggest need yet, and he will return to a South Side club that is right in the playoff hunt in the American League. The Sox just dropped three straight to a struggling Tigers team trying to recover from a historically bad performance in May, but Chicago is still two games over .500 at 39-37, putting them in second place in the American League Central and giving them the second Wild Card spot in the Junior Circuit. Teel’s return is perfectly timed as it comes as the Sox prepare to host the division-leading Guardians in a three-game set.
