The White Sox are promoting catching prospect Edgar Quero to the team’s taxi squad prior to their next game on Tuesday, according to reporter Francys Romero (via X). While Quero is technically not part of the team’s active roster yet, the move would seem to imply that the Sox are planning to have the 21-year-old switch-hitter make his Major League debut before the season is over.
Quero left his native Cuba in 2019 and signed with the Angels in 2021, then immediately hit the ground running with some big numbers in his first pro seasons. The Angels’ acquisition of Logan O’Hoppe in 2022 and then their desperation to reach the postseason in 2023 (Shohei Ohtani’s last year with the club) made Quero an expendable piece, and the young backstop was sent to the White Sox as part of the 2023 deadline deal that sent Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez to Los Angeles.
The move to the White Sox organization didn’t slow Quero down, and he has a combined .281/.368/.467 slash line over 397 minor league plate appearances in 2024. The last 105 of those trips to the plate took place at Triple-A Charlotte, though Quero only just returned this week from an IL stint. Quero missed over five weeks of playing time dealing with a back problem, and if he had been healthy, it seems likely that he already would’ve been up in the big leagues earlier in September.
MLB Pipeline ranks Quero as the 59th-best prospect in baseball, and Baseball America has the catcher 79th on their top-100 list. (The Athletic’s Keith Law also had Quero 67th on his preseason top-100 ranking.) Quero has generally been more productive against left-handed pitching than against righties, but had good contact numbers from both sides of the plate. His power dipped in 2023 but rebounded this year, moving to a .467 SLG and 16 homers after posting only a .351 slugging percentage and six homers in 455 PA in 2023.
Defensively, BA’s scouting report seems a bit more bullish than Pipeline about Quero’s future at catcher, as both sites note that the 5’10”, 210-point Quero will need to watch his conditioning to help his mobility. Even if Quero tops out as an average defensive catcher at best, his offensive potential should still allow him to carve out at least a part-time role in the majors.
Korey Lee’s first full Major League season got off to a nice start, but he went into a deep slump as the season went on, and he has only a 60 wRC+ and a .207/.238/.341 slash line over 382 PA. Known more for his glovework than his bat anyway, Lee has struggled in terms of blocking and framing, but he has thrown out 23 of 100 baserunners attempting to steal this season, giving him one of the better caught-stealing percentages of any catcher in baseball.
Even if Lee had done enough to take a firmer grasp of the everyday catching job going forward, the White Sox are naturally still going to look towards the future in the tail end of this disastrous season. If Quero does indeed make his big league debut on Tuesday, he could share in some unfortunate history, as the 36-120 White Sox are one more defeat away from breaking the 1962 Mets’ modern record for losses in a season.
When a person manages to escape the communist regime in Cuba, is it similar to escaping North Korea in that you cannot have contact with with family members ever again and they may(in fact likely )be subject to being sent to a forced labor camp and never being heard from again?
I believe ESPN covered this a little bit in a 30 for 30 on Livan and Orlando Hernandez. Livan fled first and Orlando faced some significant hardships as a result. Nothing like you are describing but more along the lines of threats and being harrased by police while he was still in Cuba, if I recall correctly.
Being on the Sox will knock the enthusiasm out of this young man.
Id keep him out of the majors this season, no need to be giving him his first taste of the bigs to see a bunch of apathetic losers who just tied the MLB record for loses and apparently do not care about it. Especially when half of these guys will (should) be gone after the season
Listening to Getz talk I’ve got a sinking feeling we’re going to see a lot of this roster coming back in 2025. Way more than we should at least.
They really have very little to trade. Basically its Crochet. Roberts would be selling low. High end Free Agents won’t be signed. They will not be a destination spot, but a desperation spot for veterans hoping to keep playing another year.
I think Robert Jr right now is a bust, he’s injured way too much, and even when he’s healthy he’s just…not that great.
Next year is Robert’s last year in a Sox uni. If he does well he’s getting traded and if he’s got another injury plagued year he’s getting bought out of his options.
I still think he could have a good 2nd half of his career if he got to a competent organization with some lineup protection.
That’s fair
Robert has looked lethargic, but playing for this team will suck the enthusiasm out of anybody. As Banix rightfully pointed out, once he gets with a good team that actually have competebtvcoaches, he’ll show his true ability once again.
Congratulations to WS they outplayed A’s and KC of last season for rock bottom
Look out boys, winning streak on the way
Why now? Let him heal. Wait till next year and keep him away from these pathetic losers. Congratulations to Reinsdorf and Getz for giving us Sox fans a forgettable season. Now you both can leave!! With Getz comments about next year – they could potentially break this years record!
It’s highly unlikely future White Sox team will be this bad moving forward.
Maybe but that’s because they set the bar so low.
They’re going to trade Crochet in the off-season. They’re not investing much in free agency. Most of this roster is probably coming back.
120+ losses back to back seems unlikely but 100+ losses next year seems completely believable.
Banix: I have every reason to believe that, with jr and Getz’ ineptness, they will break this year’s record next year.
Yeah, but it won’t take much to go right for them to avoid 100+.
Hopefully he pans out. If so, our catching should be solid with him and Lee. We also have a lot of very good and young pitching prospects which is the hardest thing to accumulate in MLB. The rest of our top prospects seem to be infielders with very few outfielders. If we trade Crochet, perhaps they can get a top OF prospect. Having said that, we are still a long way away from even being 500.
I really hope that after this record breaking season, JR steps down from his role as chairman or just sells the team. This mess is not entirely his fault but insisting on bringing in TLR and not even interviewing for the vacant GM job are indefensible.
JR flat out deserves it. You can’t solely blame the season on Chris Getz.
Aiden: Yes, you can blame Getz for trading top players for garbage. Kopech, Pham and Fedde for Vargas, who’s hitting .150- something? That’s all on Getz, as is the rookie and A ball players he’s accumulated for other good players. But Reinsdorf is definitely the head of the snake for hiring Getz in the first place and many other glaring mistakes.
Imagine escaping Cuba just to play for the white Sox lmao.
Oh good, another Cuban. They haven’t learned yet
so Luis Robert Jr, yoan moncada, Jose abreu, yasmani grandal, Minnie minoso, and Alexei Ramirez don’t exist?
Plus Orlando Hernandez and Jose Contreras
exactly like…lol??? this dude doesn’t know anything about cuban white Sox players
strauss. wonder where this fella hails from, and whether he carries some kind of bias.
It’s not a shock, but the White Sox decided to play two of their best games of the season when they faced the Braves, and they won the series 2-1. Braves record against teams below .500 is not very good, but their record against teams above .500 is better, go figure.
It’s hard to believe just how bad they’ve performed this year. Before free agency and a fleshed-out draft, there were teams that were cellar-dwellers for long stretches of time, but this is wild
Going from teh Angels to the White Sox, this man is paying some karmic debt.
my thought process is they might want him to catch some of the major league pitchers, to give him a leg up on his defensive development. i believe it would be a mistake to select his contract this early, but traveling with the major leaguers after his minor league season is over might actually be useful to his development.
The entire season consisted of a taxi squad.