Teel, Quero Give White Sox A Wealth Of Talent Behind Plate

Remember Ed Herrmann？ White Sox fans from the Comiskey Park era should.

Herrmann was 22 in 1969, when he began a six-year run as the Sox‘s primary catcher. Fifty-six seasons later, the South Siders hadn’t had a No. 1 catcher under 24 since then.

Suddenly they find themselves with a pair.

Edgar Quero, 22, and the 23-year-old Kyle Teel are positioned to share the catchers position for years.

The two rookies were rated among MLB Pipelines top 10 catching prospects entering the season. They started the season together in Triple-A before Quero made his big-league debut on April 17. They were reunited on June 6, when Teel assumed the spot that had been held by 2024 starter Korey Lee.

“The catching position is what we feel like is a strength of the organization considering that we have two catchers at the major league-level and a catcher like Korey at Triple A,” General Manager Chris Getz told reporters before Teel‘s debut. “(In Teel and Quero), you’re talking about a young tandem thats probably one of the strongest in baseball.”

Ron Karkovice, who had a four-year run as the primary catcher in 1993-96 after serving an apprenticeship under Carlton Fisk, is the franchises last young catcher with staying power. The White Sox have cycled through veterans and stop-gap options and veterans over the last 28 seasons, with only A.J. Pierzynski and the mostly disappointing Yasmani Grandal becoming consistent presences.

Getz and his predecessor, Rick Hahn, targeted catching while trading pitchers in the ongoing rebuilding process. They came away with good ones in Quero (acquired from the Angels for Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez in 2023) and Teel (from the Red Sox, in Garrett Crochet trade last December).

Quero, a switch hitter from Cuba, was signed for $200,000 in February, 2021. Teel, the son of a catching instructor who twice played in the College World Series for Virginia, was a first-round pick in the 2023 draft who received a $4 million bonus to sign.

They give the White Sox an impressive bit of cost certainty for at least the next few years. Quero, promoted so early in the season he‘ll gain Super 2 status after his third season, won’t have arbitration rights until after 2027; Teel most likely will have to wait until after 28. The franchise has rights to both catchers through 2031.

Quero came out of the gates playing at a high level in the Angels organization. He was the low-A California League MVP in his first full season as a pro, then skipped a level to play in Double-A as a 20-year-old before being traded to the White Sox.

He led catchers 21-and-younger with an .829 OPS last season while also flashing 20-homer upside, according to MLB.com‘s Jim Callis, The prospect analyst praised Quero’s mature approach and ability to avoid strikeouts.

Quero has such a good approach at the plate that he compiled a .646 OPS in his first 39 big-league games despite failing to have a home run among 126 extra-base hits. His low-chase (16.3 percent), low-whiff (16.9 percent) and high walk rate (9.9) speak to his polish as a hitter. He has more work to on his receiving skills and pitch framing (7th percentile, according to Statcast), and Callie says he “may not become more than a fringy-to-average defender.”

The left-handed-hitting Teel is such a solid two-way player that Baseball Prospectus Ben Spanier and Carlos Marcano wrote he has the potential to rival young stars like Adley Rutschman, Williams Contreras in fantasy value. He moved quickly after being drafted and has continued to hit the ball hard, gaining 2-3 mph in average exit velocity following his most recent off-season work.

“All indications are this is not a middling hitter ping-ponging the ball around an offense-friendly park for a couple months, but rather a legitimate and sustainable leap forward in quality contact,” wrote Spanier and Marcano.

Teel‘s hitting took off during a torrid May and hasn’t slowed down. He was batting .295 with an .886 OPS at Triple-A Charlotte, delivering eight home runs and 30 RBIs in 50 games.

Teel reached base safely in 38 of his last 39 games for the Knights. Hes solid defensively, which he showed by throwing out the first runner who attempted to steal second off him in his Sox debut.

“You‘re looking at a fairly well-rounded player,” Getz told reporters. “Obviously as he transitions to the major-league level, there’s always going to be adjustments. We feel hes in a good spot.”

Teel and Quero both built highly impressive minor-league portfolios, which speak volumes about their chance for success in the major leagues. Quero‘s slash line was .282/.399/.450 with 45 homers in 364 games; Teel’s was .300/.401/.456 with 23 homers (and 22 stolen bases) in 188 games.

The initial plan is to have Teel and Quero split time in their rookie seasons. Quero has been significantly more productive batting right-handed — his minor-league OPS versus left-handers was .897 in 2023, .1.025 in ‘24 and .910 in ’25 — so he and Teel have the makings of a dynamic platoon.

But it is possible White Sox manager Will Venable wont want to take either of them out of the lineup. He has already used Teel as his designated hitter with Quero starting at catcher. Historically managers have been reluctant to play two catchers like this due to the risk of losing the DH spot if the starting catcher needs to be replaced but the Sox want to maximize playing time for both young catchers.

Teel says he and Quero enjoy working together and are good friends off the field. They push each other, he says, but arent driven by out-playing each other.

“We have a good relationship,” he told the website Sox Machine. “All that stuff helps us play better, and what we really care about overall is how can we both help the team win.”

After such a long time not having a young catcher to count on, the White Sox welcome the chance to develop two at the same time. It‘s a nice step on the organization’s road back to relevance following a 121-loss season.