The White Sox have a pair of potential long-term starting catchers. Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero were each highly-regarded prospects who showed promise as rookies. Teel was particularly good after being called up in early June.
Teams inquired about Chicago’s willingness to trade one of that duo early in the offseason. It doesn’t seem talks ever got far. Teel and Quero now seem all but assured to begin the season with the White Sox. That leaves them with a decision to make on third catcher Korey Lee, himself a former first-round pick who might be squeezed out of the picture.
Lee exhausted his last minor league option in 2025. The Sox need to keep him on the MLB roster at this point. Teel and Quero have options but aren’t in jeopardy of getting sent down. Teel hit .273/.375/.411 through his first 78 MLB games. Quero batted .268/.333/.356 over 111 contests.
Manager Will Venable addressed the catching plans on Monday. “I think it really is going to take care of itself,” the second-year skipper told reporters (including Scott Merkin of MLB.com and LaMond Pope of The Chicago Tribune). “We know that we like Kyle catching and hitting against righties. We know that Edgar can DH. We’ll have a couple of guys who will fill that DH spot versus right-handed pitching.”
Teel, a left-handed hitter, hit .290/.388/.448 against righties. The Sox gave him 52 plate appearances against southpaws, in which he hit .186 without a home run while striking out 20 times. Quero is a switch-hitter whose numbers were much better from the right side. He batted .357/.394/.457 against lefties compared to a .220/.301/.301 line while hitting left-handed.
Venable indicated that the Sox would use Quero more frequently behind the plate when an opposing lefty is on the mound. That’d allow them to spell Teel against southpaws, though the manager added it won’t be a strict platoon. The Sox are still rebuilding and presumably don’t want to firmly lock either player into a platoon role within their first two seasons in the big leagues.
Does that leave room on the roster for Lee? Most teams prefer not to carry three catchers when they’re primarily using a four-man bench. Assuming Quero sees a decent amount of run as a DH against righties, the third catcher would provide Venable more in-game flexibility. If they wanted to pinch-hit for Teel against a tough lefty reliever, they could plug Lee in behind the plate instead of moving Quero there (which would forfeit the DH). There’s also simply the likelihood that another team would claim Lee if the Sox tried to run him through waivers at the end of camp.
Lee didn’t get much of a look last season, only taking 40 plate appearances in 25 MLB games. He put up a solid .255/.313/.405 showing in Triple-A but is a career .193/.234/.321 hitter against big league pitching. Lee had a strong defensive reputation as a prospect. Statcast hasn’t looked favorably on his pitch-framing work in the majors, but he has a plus arm and seems to work well with the pitching staff.
The Padres reportedly had some interest in Lee last summer. They wound up trading for Freddy Fermin from Kansas City instead. San Diego’s already thin catching depth has been hit by injury, but they might be better served signing a veteran to a minor league deal. Their backup catcher Luis Campusano is also out of options, so they’d need to consider Lee a definitive upgrade to put Campusano on waivers.
Speculatively, Lee’s former team in Houston could look for a backup catcher after losing Victor Caratini to free agency. The Rays, Rockies or Mariners are other potential fits to upgrade the #2 catching spot on the depth chart.
The catching position requires so many intangibles from blocking, receiving, game-calling, behind-the-scenes staff work, run game control, etc.
We know that Quero and Teel can both hit, but how do they perform at the rest of the skills that the position mandates?
That’s why you don’t trade either of them right now. Use 2026 to get a more definitive answer to that question.
Sox gave him some looks in the outfield last year. He’s really speedy for a catcher. I’d love to see him out there a little more this spring. Also, he’s got a good eye and can work a walk. As a Sox fan, I’d love for them to find another spot for him to keep him on the team.
Who is he? Sox gave an OF inning to both Lee and Teel.
They got gave Teel and Lee 1 inning in LF last season.
It’s evident that he’s talking about Korey Lee with the last sentence of his comment. Neither Kyle Teel or Edgar Quero are in danger of not making the White Sox opening day roster.
It also could be noted that none of the three catchers has played an inning outside of catching thus far in any “official” Cactus League game. All three have either caught or been a DH.
Among the three, Lee has the most OF experience although that’s not saying much. He appeared in LF once last season after pinch running for Andrew Benintendi in the 7th inning. He finished the game with 2 innings on the grass that included 3 chances with 2 PO’s and 1 error. His first catch in LF was actually a highlight play: mlb.com/whitesox/video/jackson-merrill-flies-out-t…
Btw: Lee also finished 2 games on the mound for the White Sox in 2025, pitching 3 innings and allowing 1 run.
Who are you talking about ?
Trade him. Better to get something now before he turns into a pumpkin. The other guys are much better anyway
No value besides some circus peanuts, maybe.
brush – The article is about both catchers, which one are you referring to?
Quero didn’t play outfield last year, Teel played only one inning in the outfield, so neither catcher got “some looks in the outfield last year”.
It’s actually talks 3 catchers. Teel, Quero and Lee.
Quero and Teel are locks.. if you read the article they are the catching locks so they are trying to find room Lee who showed some pop and has speed is the only question.
Needs a place for Sosa
Nice position to be in. Also loaded at middle IF for now and the near future with Bonemer potentially and Choco taco presumably in the draft
Forfeiting the DH doesn’t seem that big of a late game consideration with the ghost runner leading to most extra innings games over by the 11th.
Yeah and in a lost season, does it really hurt to potentially have a game where you need pinch hitting maybe 1-3 times in one game?
Lee isn’t a left handed bat, so we have no use. And is he going to be better than Salazar or any option we already have? I feel like the Kendall Gravemen trade wasn’t that good for either team.
I say keep all 3.
If Teel wasn’t playing for team Italy, would have been nice to face LHPs every ST opportunity to practice working his way out of strong side platoon catcher.
Quero’s mindset at the plate looks really good with RISP-optimistic he’ll look better vs RHPs this season if given a chance and hopefully at least improve to okay defensively as the lesser used catcher.
The White Sox are very thin on outfielders.
Benintendi, Hays, Baldwin.,do they rush Montgomery into the lineup, or just settle on backups..Hill, Acuna, Kallenic.?
If someone gets injured, the White Sox are in real trouble!
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True. The Sox should move Antonacci to LF asap and move Bonemer to the OF to start the season in AA. They are both much better offensively than defensively anyway.
More Bonemer than Antonacci but agree nevertheless.
Wow, a conundrum for the White Sox. Who knew?
I don’t think Quero is traded barring a drastic overpay.
I think all three start the year on the roster, Both Quero and Sosa will split time at DH and Korey will be 3rd catcher and they’ll maybe, just maybe play him in left a few times a year, maybe against a lefty instead of Benintendi
DH Quero
C Teel
1B Murakami
2B Meidroth
3B Vargas
SS Montgomery
LF Benintendi
CF Baldwin
RF Hays
C/LF Lee
IF/DH Sosa
IF/OF Acuna
OF Pereria
With Kelenic, Mead, Hill and Antonacci starting the year in AAA
Meidroth is Nick Madrigal – probably can’t field as well as Madrigal, but he’ll hit a few more HRs.
I’m excited to see Darren Baker in Charlotte this year but I would play him in the outfield. Make him a true utility player like they done with Brooks Baldwin. It would makes sense to get Antonacci some outfield work too. Teel needs to learn 1st base as well.
They don’t have to give Teel 1B reps.
They don’t have to but it would be nice if he could play another position.
There is no way Korey Lee would make it through waivers, and also his “poor framing” will be a moot point soon.
I would not be sorry to see Korey Lee back with the Astros.
Lee’s better than either Devil Rays’ backstop, but if he’s making a penny over minimum they’d pass…