Kyle Teel’s time as one of the Boston Red Sox’s most anticipated up-and-coming prospects reached its end when the organization traded the 22-year-old catcher to the Chicago White Sox for All-Star pitcher Garrett Crochet.
Teel, along with fellow former Red Sox prospects Braden Montgomery, Chase Meidroth and Wikelman Gonzalez, were packaged in the swap during MLB’s Winter Meetings in Dallas on Wednesday. Boston had high hopes for Teel, and although the No. 14 pick of the 2023 draft won’t continue climbing up the minor league ladder with the Red Sox, Teel remains laser-focused on the ultimate goal.
“I’m just excited to get on board and it’s really cool,” Teel told 670 The Score’s “Bernstein & Harris Show” earlier this week.
Teel added: “I am going in excited and I have goals, big goals. So I’m really excited to come in and help create a winning culture and that’s where my mind’s at right now.”
The Red Sox promoted Teel, the No. 25 prospect in all of baseball, per MLB Pipeline, Roman Anthony (No. 3) and Marcelo Mayer (No. 7) at the same time as the trio made its leap from Double-A Portland to Triple-A Worcester last season. They were nicknamed the franchise’s “Big Three” and Teel began to draw eyes down at Polar Park.
He slashed .255/.374/.343 with two home runs, three doubles and 18 RBIs, going 26-for-102 in 28 games in Triple-A. Teel, of course, didn’t envision a trade on the horizon as the hours leading up, he was treating the offseason day like any other.
“So I’m driving to go train, actually and it’s about two, three o’clock. It’s like a normal every day for me, and I get a phone call and I don’t know what it’s about,” Teel said.” And pretty much they let me know I got traded. And at first, it was a complete shock, just because I didn’t see it coming. And as it settled in, I would say the main emotions I felt was just being surprised and being excited for this opportunity.”
Teel was widely viewed as Boston’s catcher of the future, and with Danny Jansen joining the Tampa Bay Rays in free agency, it seemed as though a spot behind the plate was looming for Teel heading into 2025. The Red Sox quickly addressed the concerns of Connor Wong’s backstop partner by landing catcher Carlos Narvaez from the New York Yankees shortly after the Teel-to-Chicago swap was made.
The White Sox lost an MLB-worst 121 games last season, which should grant Teel plenty of time to continue developing until the Virginia product gets promoted with Chicago.
