White Sox catcher Kyle Teel has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 right hamstring strain and could be out anywhere between four and six weeks, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. He’ll open the season on the 10-day injured list.
Teel, 24, suffered the injury last night when legging out a double in Italy’s upset win over the United States in the World Baseball Classic. He ran hard out of the box and pulled up limping shortly after rounding the first base bag (video link). Teel was visibly frustrated when standing on second base, clearly aware that he’d an injury of some note. He left the field with the training staff, albeit under his own power.
It’s a sour note on which to end Teel’s WBC run and on which to begin his 2026 season. The 2023 first-rounder headlined the prospect package the White Sox received when trading Garrett Crochet to the Red Sox last offseason and quickly broke out as what looks like Chicago’s catcher of the future. Teel played in 78 games last year, tallied 297 plate appearances and batted .273/.375/.411 with eight homers, 11 doubles and a huge 12.5% walk rate. His defense could use some improvement, but the lefty-swinging Teel looks the part of a big league catcher with strong offense for the position.
With Teel sidelined, the South Siders will open the season with Edgar Quero and Korey Lee as their catching tandem. Quero, like Teel, is a trade acquisition and former top prospect, coming to the Sox by way of the 2023 Lucas Giolito/Reynaldo Lopez trade with the Angels. The Cuban-born Quero is a switch-hitter who logged a respectable .268/.333/.356 slash (95 wRC+) in 403 plate appearances last year, though his glovework drew particularly poor grades; he caught only 15.8% of attempted thieves on the basepaths and graded as one of the worst pitch framers in the game.
Teel’s injury means Quero will open the season in a starting role and look to improve on both his power output and his defensive acumen behind the plate. Lee is another former first-round pick whom the Astros added in a trade (Kendall Graveman, 2023). He profiles strictly as a backup at this point, having slashed .195/.237/.325 with 14 homers in 504 plate appearances with the Sox — but only a 5.2% walk rate and a gaudy 29.6% strikeout rate. Lee has nabbed nearly one-quarter of runners who’ve attempted to steal against him since being traded to Chicago, but he’s drawn below-average grades for his framing and his efforts to block balls in the dirt.
The injury to Teel allows the White Sox to kick the can down the road a bit when it comes to a decision on their catching corps. Teel and Quero seem like the clear long-term candidates at the position, while the 27-year-old Lee (28 in July) is out of minor league options. He’ll now have at least a bit of runway to make a case that he deserves to stay on the roster once Teel is healthy, but Lee’s hold on a roster spot alongside a healthy Teel and Quero looks tenuous at best. Drew Romo, a former top prospect with the Rockies, is also in camp as non-roster depth if the Sox incur further injuries among their catching group.
Still, trade Lee asap and give Quero lots of playing time and spell him with Romo who is a better batter than Lee.
No
Hate to hear it for our Italian Stallion.
The White Sox will no longer have to consider carrying 3 catchers to open the 2026 season. The injury to Kyle Teel could potentially open up a roster spot for highly regarded “Italian” INF Sam Antonacci who’s been looking more and more like a “Stallion” since his appearance in the AFL late last season. 😮
Antonnaci has options. Hope this opens up a path for Kelenic and Wade. Sox need to look at Nishida and Bergolla as well this spring,they are reallyjgood batters.
I don’t think they were going to personally so this guarantees Lee a spot
Brutal..
Too many shots with boys yesterday
Uh, wot?
There was a whole thing about team Italy having espresso shots.
What was he thinking? He’s a catcher, they never leg out doubles!
WBC injury, Great!
I guarantee more injuries happen during spring training, than in a few weeks of the WBC
“more injuries happen during spring training”
2000 players playing for 6 weeks in ST vs 300 playing for 2 weeks in the WBC. You think?
All I’ll say is a starting catcher (Teel) would not be “legging out a double” like that in ST. Look, I enjoy the WBC, but its done far too soon into the season.
Exactly- Lindor, Carroll, Greene, Wentz are just a few that come to mind.
Get well soon. There goes my starting dynasty league catcher.
I know this could have happened in Spring Training, but I’m still not a fan of the WBC. Hopefully he heals up fully, no need to rush him back.
Maybe the WBC shiuld be after the World Series.
Its a tough call either way.
Idea of WBC *before* if the guys involved report to ST early, have a minicamp, then roll into the tourney which replaces some of their ST appearances. Not a huge change in workload or season length, just a bit extra intensity.
If you went after the WS, youd have tons of players who didnt play an inning for weeks or a month before the WBC started.
That would be a problem, including for guys in countries that play a shorter season…
Are you going to force WBC guys to play fall training pickup games between the end of September and November? You’ll hurt pitchers, BAD. Heck, even one would miss out on the offseason to let all those minor injuries they play with all season heal up.
Also, WBC in the fall competes with the NFL and college football, which is a losing proposition as well
One reason I’m hoping for the very specific “Mexico beats Italy while scoring fewer than 5 runs” scenario is to get Roman Anthony out of the tournament and back in team camp.
I’m sure he’ll be fine. No need to rush back too soon.
last wbc, altuve missed 2 months with injury. e diaz missed the entire season.
now j pena is out with broken finger.
teel’s out 6 weeks with hamstring strain.
please for the love of god get rid of this tournament once and for all and stop endangering players!
Trade him back to the Red Sox
Maybe for Crochet
Id trade Teel, great opportunity here with him out four to six weeks with a hamstring. Fresh off a triumphant WBC win.
Im all for sending Teel and Shane Smith to the Marlins for Joe Mack, Estuary Ruiz, Kemp Alderman and Joey Volini.
Marlins might make that trade in this moment with Ruiz having a terrible spring.
Hope Lee plays well early to have some trade value when Teel returns. Turn a negative into a positive.
Since the USA needs Mexico to blow out Italy, I suppose this is good news.
Sucks for CWS fans, but they have bigger worries than an injured catcher for the first month of the season.
This is an example of why Manfred’s desire to shut down the season for 3 weeks while MLB players compete in the Olympics is a bad idea. Injuries happen but injuries happening while playing exhibitions in the middle of the pennant races would be disastrous for the game