White Sox Outright Korey Lee
Catcher Korey Lee has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A, according to Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Lee was designated for assignment by the White Sox three days ago after being informed that he wouldn’t make the Opening Day roster.
The outright assignment keeps Lee in the organization, which may prove ideal for the Sox. A few weeks ago, Lee was poised for the backup catcher spot, with Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero splitting time between catcher and DH to keep both in the lineup. Then, Teel strained his hamstring in the World Baseball Classic, leading him to start the year on the injured list. The injury prompted Chicago to sign Reese McGuire to a cheap one-year deal as a backup while Quero started behind the plate. Despite his excellent performance in Spring Training, Lee was ultimately the odd man out. He’ll now start the year as Triple-A depth, but he’s likely the next man up should Quero or McGuire suffer an injury themselves.
Lee has made 530 career plate appearances between the Astros and White Sox from 2022-25. His first significant look came in 2024 with the Sox, making 394 PA over 125 games. He batted just .210/.244/.347 with a 65 wRC+, although he showed some power with 12 home runs. He spent most of 2025 at Triple-A and fared slightly better with an 81 wRC+. Still, his overall offensive output is underwhelming given his status as a former first-round draft pick.
Instead, Lee’s value comes from his defense and ability to work with a pitching staff. In 2024, Statcast graded him in the 97th percentile for pop time and the 82nd percentile for caught stealing above average. In contrast, he earned negative marks for his blocking and framing. Despite those flaws, Lee’s arm strength, youth, and affordability give him some appeal as minor-league depth. He has just over two years of service time and is out of option years. If his contract is eventually selected, he would need to hit enough to stick on the roster or else be designated for assignment. In that scenario, he would have the right to refuse another outright assignment.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
White Sox Designate Curtis Mead, Korey Lee For Assignment
The White Sox announced Wednesday that infielder Curtis Mead and catcher Korey Lee have been designated for assignment. Both were out of minor league options, and neither player made the Opening Day roster. They’ll be placed on waivers or traded to a team willing to carry them on the 26-man roster within the next five days. Outfielder Tristan Peters grabs a bench spot over Mead.
Infielder/outfielder Brooks Baldwin (elbow sprain) and catcher Kyle Teel (hamstring strain) open the season on the 10-day IL. Righties Prelander Berroa, Mike Vasil and Drew Thorpe are all beginning the season on the 15-day IL.
Mead, 25, was originally signed by the Phillies out of Australia but traded to the Rays ahead of the 2021 season in exchange for a young left-handed pitcher. For years, it looked like another savvy swap for the Rays. Mead quickly emerged as a top-100 prospect, while the Phillies received 52 2/3 innings of 5.47 ERA ball from their new southpaw in 2021-22. By 2025, however, Cristopher Sánchez had emerged as a bona fide ace in Philadelphia, whereas Mead was flipped to the Sox for a half season of Adrian Houser and now finds himself in DFA limbo to begin the year.
In 488 major league plate appearances, Mead has hit .238/.300/.317. He hasn’t walked much (5.7%) or hit the ball hard, has a slightly higher-than-average strikeout rate (23.4%), and has received middling defensive grades at both third base and second base. His .293/.373/.501 line in 856 Triple-A plate appearances suggests there could be more in the tank, but it’d be hard for a club to carry Mead on its active roster and give him regular at-bats unless said team is rebuilding. A team like the Rockies or Nationals could take a speculative look, but there’s also a decent chance Mead will pass through waivers unclaimed and stick with Chicago as a depth piece in Charlotte.
Lee, selected 32nd overall by the Astros in 2019, came to the South Siders by way of the 2022 Kendall Graveman trade. Though he was once a prospect of some note, he profiles as a backup at this point. In 504 plate appearances with the White Sox, he’s slashed .195/.237/.325 with 14 homers but only a 5.2% walk rate against 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.
Both Mead and Lee can be traded or placed on waivers at any point within the next five days. Waivers are a 48-hour process, so the outcome of both DFAs will be known within, at most, one week’s time.
White Sox Won’t Include Korey Lee On Opening Day Roster
Catcher Korey Lee won’t be breaking camp with the White Sox, according to MLB.com’s Scott Merkin. Since Lee is out of minor league options, the Sox would first have to designate Lee for assignment and hopes that he clears waivers in order to outright him off their 40-man roster and send him to Triple-A. Or, if the White Sox are ready to move on from Lee entirely, the team could shop Lee to any catcher-needy teams who might be interested in a trade.
As of a few weeks ago, Chicago was seemingly ready to go into 2026 with three catchers on the active roster. Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero would get at-bats both as a catcher and as a designated hitter, and Lee would be kept as more of a traditional backup so the Sox wouldn’t run into any issues by having Teel and Quero in the lineup at the same time. Teel then sustained a Grade 2 hamstring strain during the World Baseball Classic, putting the catcher on the shelf for 4-6 weeks and at best a return around the middle of April.
Rather than just stick with Quero and Lee until Teel is healthy, the White Sox signed Reese McGuire to a one-year, $1.2MM guarantee earlier today, a day after McGuire opted out of a previous minor league deal with the Brewers. It is possible Lee might’ve been an odd man out even if Teel hadn’t gotten hurt and the Sox just wanted to stick with two catchers, but McGuire’s addition mean that some kind of decision about the catching depth chart was inevitable.
It was a “really hard decision” to make, as manager Will Venable told Merkin (multiple links). “Korey Lee was outstanding this camp. He’s a really important member of this organization, great relationships in the clubhouse. Someone I personally love and have grown to respect,” Venable said. As to what is next for Lee, the Sox skipper said “we’re going to work it out over the next couple of days, see what transpires. There will be a process in place.”
Lee was selected 32nd overall by the Astros in the 2019 draft, and drew some top-100 prospect attention during his time in Houston’s farm system. The Astros seemed to prefer Martin Maldonado‘s steady defense and game-calling abilities, and then Yainer Diaz emerged as the team’s next catcher of the future, making Lee expendable enough to be dealt to Chicago for Kendall Graveman prior to the 2023 trade deadline.
The 2024 season represented Lee’s only real extended stint of Major League playing time, as 394 of his 530 career plate appearances came during a season that saw the White Sox post a 41-121 record. Lee’s lack of production contributed to the struggles, as he hit .210/.244/.347 with 12 home runs over his 394 PA, getting the majority of catching duties while Chuckie Robinson and his old Astros teammate Maldonado served in backup roles.
Heading into 2025, Lee was relegated behind Teel (acquired from the Red Sox as part of the Garrett Crochet blockbuster) and Quero (also acquired at the 2023 deadline in a trade with the Angels). The White Sox resisted trade offers for Teel and Quero as teams looked to capitalize on this apparent logjam, as the Sox wanted more time to evaluate both players as potential building blocks.
Though Lee hasn’t shown much at the plate and his framing skill has been called into question, Lee is considered a solid defensive catcher overall, good at throwing out baserunners and working with pitchers. Because teams are frequently short on catching depth, Lee is a good candidate to be claimed if the White Sox DFA him, which provides incentive for any interested teams to work out a trade now rather than take their chances on the waiver wire.
Kyle Teel Out Four To Six Weeks With Hamstring Strain
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.
Will Venable Discusses White Sox’s Catching Mix
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.
Poll: Should The White Sox Trade A Young Catcher?
While they improved on their historically bad 2024 season this past year, the 2025 White Sox were still among the league’s bottom-feeders with little end in sight to the rebuild that GM Chris Getz is undertaking. The problem for Chicago is that they’re running out of notable pieces to dangle in trades if they hope to accelerate that rebuild. Andrew Benintendi has the capacity to be a decent corner bat, but he’s overpaid and could be difficult to move without eating almost all of his salary. Luis Robert Jr. has long been on the trade block, but the White Sox have never been able to extract the value they’re looking for.
That dearth of quality trade pieces could lead the Sox to look for more unorthodox trade candidates on their roster. For all of the team’s faults, Chicago does have one area of legitimate depth on its roster: young catching talent. Edgar Quero and Kyle Teel both turned in solid rookie seasons after entering the 2025 season as consensus top-100 prospects in the sport, and both players are controlled through the end of the 2031 season. Six full seasons of team control on a player who has already proved capable of hitting big league pitching from the toughest defensive position on the diamond is arguably one of the most attractive tradable assets in the entire game.
There’s also the current market conditions to consider. The free agent market is headlined by J.T. Realmuto but he’s expected to return to the Phillies. Even if he doesn’t, he’s about to turn 35 and some clubs would certainly prefer to find a younger franchise catcher like those currently on the White Sox. Apart from Realmuto, guys like Victor Caratini and Danny Jansen are the top guys available. Ryan Jeffers might be on the trade block but it’s not entirely confirmed that the Twins are going to continue the selloff they began at the deadline.
That could make it easy to dream on what sort of elite return the White Sox could get if they were willing to trade either Teel or Quero, both of whom they’ve received interest on. For a team with a need in the starting rotation, multiple holes in the lineup, and plenty of room to improve in the bullpen, a trade return with a number of players could help patch holes and quicken the team’s return to contention in an AL Central division that appeared a bit more vulnerable than expected by the end of the year. Teel or Quero would also not necessarily need to be replaced if traded given the presence of Korey Lee on the 40-man roster, though Lee’s track record in the majors is mixed at best.
An offer that included a controllable starter and help for the lineup could be hard to turn down, but Getz has indicated that he isn’t especially inclined to deal either Teel or Quero at this point. That’s understandable, given that the team has no reason to rush into a trade. Keeping both Teel and Quero in the fold would allow them to better evaluate which of the two is better suited to be a franchise cornerstone behind the plate and, if both players excel, wouldn’t substantially decrease their value on the market. Any loss in team control could be made up for or perhaps even exceeded by the value created by the youngster proving themselves more solidly at the big league level.
What’s more, waiting to trade could mean that the players acquired would be under control longer when the White Sox are earnestly trying to contend again. Acquiring a player with three years of team control in 2026 would likely only mean one or two years in the organization while its competitive, but acquiring a player with the same amount of control remaining a year or two from now could mean having that player’s services for a much larger portion of the team’s competitive window. Waiting would also allow the White Sox to better evaluate the rest of the talent in their system and more accurately identify which needs should be prioritized.
Of course, there’s risks in waiting as well. Injury or underperformance could diminish either player’s value. Given the inconsistencies that even high-end young catchers often face early in their time as big leaguers, the possibility of such a decline cannot be ignored. Perhaps future offseasons will have more catching talent available in free agency and/or trades.
Even if Teel and Quero both remain productive and command strong markets a year or two from now, there are drawbacks to waiting. For one, the clocks on the team’s existing young players are already ticking. Any time spent waiting out the market is time that acquired players and prospects won’t be able to spend alongside young up-and-comers like Shane Smith, Colson Montgomery, and whichever catcher does remain in Chicago long-term. Another concern would be that those players and prospects themselves may not yet be fully established at the big league level, and any additional development time necessary might be better done while the White Sox are still rebuilding rather than when they’re already trying to compete.
How do MLBTR readers think the White Sox should handle their catching surplus? Should the team be open to moving one of their top catching talents, or should they hold onto both players and continue evaluating them in 2026? Have your say in the poll below:
Should The White Sox Trade A Catcher This Winter?
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No, be patient and hope both continue to develop so they can be traded for even more value later. 60% (2,262)
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Yes, trade either Teel or Quero now to capitalize on a weak market for catching and their years of control. 40% (1,486)
Total votes: 3,748
Edgar Quero Drawing Trade Interest From Multiple Teams
White Sox catcher Edgar Quero is drawing trade interest from multiple teams, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR. Romero notes that the Sox would have a high asking price. That aligns with recent comments from White Sox general manager Chris Getz. Per James Fegan of Sox Machine, Getz pushed back on the idea that now was the time to trade a catcher. “Is that time now? I don’t think so. I don’t,” Getz said. “But down the road, you never know.”
The Sox came into 2025 with two notable catching prospects in Quero and Kyle Teel. Both were generally considered top 100 guys by prospect evaluators. Both debuted in 2025. Teel had a better season but he’s a year older.
Quero got into 111 games and stepped to the plate 403 times, producing a .268/.333/.356 line. That led to a 95 wRC+, which indicates he was 5% less productive than the average big league hitter. Catchers are usually about 10% worse than par, so Quero’s production was actually decent for the position. However, outlets like FanGraphs, Statcast and Baseball Prospectus all panned his glovework, particularly his framing.
Teel, meanwhile, got into 78 games with 297 plate appearances. He slashed .273/.375/.411 for a 125 wRC+. His defensive grades weren’t elite but he was often considered to be close to average, give or take.
The Sox also have Korey Lee on the roster. He wasn’t the same level of prospect as Teel or Quero but he was a 32nd overall pick of the Astros back in 2019. He hasn’t clicked in the majors yet, with a .193/.234/.321 batting line and poor defense to boot.
The Sox don’t have to make a trade now, though it does feel as though one is inevitable in the long term. Most clubs have two catchers sharing the catching duties these days. The Sox could certainly do that with Teel and Quero for the time being.
The designated hitter slot can also allow them to get both into the lineup fairly regularly, as they continue to develop as major leaguers. The Sox don’t have a full-time DH, though they might want to have their veteran outfielders in there from time to time. Luis Robert Jr., Andrew Benintendi and Mike Tauchman are all trade candidates and it would be good to keep them fresh and productive for trade possibilities, especially given Robert’s injury history. It’s also possible the roster is changed in the offseason via a trade of one of those three or perhaps even a non-tender of Tauchman.
At some point, a trade should be a real consideration, however. Even if Quero is the 1B catcher behind 1A Teel, other clubs might view him as a viable 1A option. The Sox could trade Quero to bolster another part of the roster, then use Lee or sign some veteran to back up Teel. It’s also theoretically possible that Quero surpasses Teel as the top option in Chicago and the inverse becomes a possibility, though as Fegan mentions, the Sox are probably committed to Teel since they made him such a key piece of the Garrett Crochet trade.
From the perspective of the Sox, there shouldn’t be urgency. The 2025 White Sox showed some progress relative to the 2024 squad, but that’s not saying much. Even the improved 2025 group still lost 102 games. The end of the rebuild is not imminent. This year’s free agent crop of catchers isn’t especially strong, which could tempt them to put Quero out there, but next year’s class doesn’t appear to be much better.
The Sox can continue using their big league playing time to focus on development. Unless they are bowled over by an offer, that can include Quero. As mentioned by Fegan, the Sox don’t feel Quero has reached his potential yet. Some signs of progress in the next year or two would only increase his trade value. By that time, the Sox might also have a better idea of which parts of the roster they need to target in the trade return, in order to best forge a path for future success.
Lee is out of options now, so he may have a hard time sticking around, though there is an argument for keeping him on the bench. As mentioned, the Sox may use the DH spot to have both Teel and Quero in the lineup regularly. If they indeed plan to do that, they could perhaps keep Lee around as a classic backup catcher who is ready to jump in if one of the other two suffers an injury.
Photo courtesy of Jesse Johnson, Imagn Images
AL Central Notes: Tigers, Ragans, Lee
Some of baseball’s top prospects have made their MLB debuts within the last week, but don’t expect any of the Tigers‘ top minor leaguers to be appearing in 2025. In an interview with MLB Network this past week (hat tip to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press), Tigers GM Jon Greenberg said a call-up of shortstop prospect Kevin McGonigle is likely not “on the radar right now,” and Greenberg also downplayed the possibility of Max Clark or Josue Briceno arriving in the majors.
“They’ve only been in Double-A for a month. It’s been fewer than 30 games,” the GM said. “Really excited with what Kevin has done, really excited with what Max has done, and some of the other guys in our system. But right now, the focus is on their development and getting the reps to continue to take those steps forward.”
MLB Pipeline and Baseball America each rank McGonigle as the second-best prospect in baseball, Clark ninth, and Briceno also in a prominent top-100 spot (Pipeline has him 32nd, BA 54th). As Greenberg noted, none of the group has much experience even at the Double-A level, though McGonigle and Clark have both been on fire at the plate since their call-up. While it seems like a further promotion to Triple-A could be possible before the 2025 season is through, any of these top prospects would very likely have to further excel in Toledo, and then the Tigers would have to feel confident enough to install any of these rookies right into the extra pressure of a postseason push. There isn’t much urgency for Detroit to make such an aggressive prospect promotion, as the Tigers have a 10.5-game division lead and look to be cruising towards the AL Central crown.
More from within the division…
- A rotator cuff strain sent Cole Ragans to the injured list in early June, but the Royals southpaw seems to be making good progress towards a late-season return. Manager Matt Quatraro told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters that things went “really well” during a 30-pitch bullpen for Ragans on Thursday, which was Ragans’ fourth pen session. The next step is an “up-down” session today. Since Ragans will surely need at least couple of minor league rehab outings as the final stage of his recovery process, it would seem like the second week of September would be the absolute earliest Ragans might be able to return to the K.C. rotation. While a timeline is still very fluid, getting Ragans back would be a late boost to a Royals team that has won 14 of its last 22 games to surge back into the wild card race.
- The White Sox called catcher Korey Lee up from Triple-A yesterday, creating what is technically a bit of a logjam since Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero are already both on the active roster. However, manager Will Venable told reporters (including Vinnie Duber of the Chicago Sun-Times) that having a third catcher available gives the Sox the ability to have both Teel and Quero in the lineup at catcher and DH, without worrying that an injury would leave the team short-handed during a game. Naturally the White Sox want to see as much as they can from both Teel and Quero in their rookie seasons, as the former top prospects both appear to be key pieces of Chicago’s rebuild, even if there’s still a lingering question about who will eventually emerge as the regular catcher.
Padres Interested In Korey Lee
The Padres are known to be looking for help behind the plate, and their search for catching has extended to the Windy City. The Athletic’s Dennis Lin reports that the Padres have interest in White Sox catcher Korey Lee, who has spent much of the 2025 season either on the big league injured list or at Triple-A Charlotte.
It wasn’t long ago that Lee seemed like a potential building block for the Sox, as he opened the 2024 season as Chicago’s regular catcher and hit .309/.341/.494 in his first 85 plate appearances. Unfortunately for Lee, his bat then went ice cold for the remainder of the year. He finished with a .210/.244/.347 slash line in 394 PA, and his 64 wRC+ was the third-lowest of any 2024 player who received at least 300 trips to the plate. Lee’s 2025 campaign then got off a rough start when he suffered a left ankle sprain in early April, which resulted in over six weeks on the IL.
Lee’s last big league appearance this season came on June 5, and he has since been playing in Charlotte. With highly-regarded prospects Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero now taking over as Chicago’s catching tandem, Lee simply looks like the odd man out. Blake Sabol was just acquired today in a trade from the Red Sox, which could push Lee even further down the depth chart or hint that Lee could soon be on his way elsewhere.
The Astros took Lee with the 32nd pick of the 2019 draft, and his 12-game rookie season in 2022 netted him a World Series ring right at the start of his Major League career. Lee was dealt from Houston to Chicago at the 2023 trade deadline in the swap that brought Kendall Graveman to the Astros, and Lee has thus far hit .192/.231/.315 over 521 career plate appearances in the big leagues.
It isn’t much of a track record, though Lee has hit pretty well during his time at Triple-A, including a .262/.342/.438 slash line in 146 PA with Charlotte in 2025. Lee was very good at throwing out baserunners in 2024, but Statcast hasn’t loved his defensive work overall, with generally negative grades for Lee’s framing and blocking (albeit in a small sample size of MLB action). If Lee doesn’t look like a difference-maker on paper for the Padres, he is just shy of his 27th birthday, and might be able to yet unlock his past draft potential with another change of scenery.
As it relates to San Diego, Lee still could represent an upgrade on a catching situation that has nowhere to go but up. Padres catchers have combined for -0.9 bWAR in 2025, easily the lowest of any team’s catching corps. Veterans Elias Diaz and Martin Maldonado have a cumulative slash line of .190/.250/.296 in 342 plate appearances, and Maldonado’s once-acclaimed glovework has also fallen off, as per public metrics.
White Sox Designate Ryan Cusick For Assignment, Option Korey Lee
The White Sox announced that they have selected the contract of catcher Kyle Teel, a move that was reported yesterday. In a corresponding active roster move, fellow catcher Korey Lee has been optioned to Triple-A Charlotte. To open a 40-man spot, right-hander Ryan Cusick has been designated for assignment.
Cusick, 25, was just claimed off waivers two days ago. While it may seem odd to grab a player and then cut him so quickly, it’s possible the Sox are hoping he will clear waivers this time, which is a possibility. Cusick started this season with the A’s but was put on waivers by that club a little over a week ago. He was claimed by the Tigers, the team with the best record in baseball and therefore the last waiver priority. That means the 28 other teams, apart from the A’s and Tigers, passed.
The Tigers then put him back on waivers but the White Sox, with a roster spot just opened by Miguel Castro‘s season-ending knee injury, claimed him this time. Now that Cusick is going back on the wire yet again, it’s possible he goes through unclaimed. The Tigers nudged Cusick off by reinstating Parker Meadows from the 60-day IL and they have also since reinstated Sawyer Gipson-Long, tightening up their roster and perhaps giving them less ability to claim Cusick again.
If he does indeed pass through waivers unclaimed, the Sox would be retaining a former first-round pick. Atlanta grabbed Cusick 24th overall in 2021 and then flipped him to the A’s as part of the Matt Olson deal a few months later. The A’s tried to develop Cusick as a starter without success. He tossed 143 innings over the 2022 and 2023 minor league seasons, missing time due to injury and posting a 5.60 earned run average in that span.
He was moved to a relief role halfway through the 2024 season and showed some flashes of intrigue there. His final 26 innings of the year resulted in a 1.73 ERA. Walking 11.8% of opponents in that span was less than ideal but he recorded strikeouts at a 28.2% clip. That was enough that the A’s thought he could get snapped up in the Rule 5 draft, so they gave him a 40-man spot in November.
He couldn’t carry that strong performance in 2025, or at least hasn’t yet. He had a 6.75 ERA in 14 2/3 Triple-A innings to start the season, giving out 13 walks to just 11 strikeouts. That kicked off his trip through the waiver wire in recent weeks. The next few days will reveal whether he will stick in the White Sox’ system or perhaps get claimed yet again.
Lee’s optional assignment is also notable, as it sheds more light on Chicago’s catching plans. They have had Lee and Edgar Quero as their primary catching duo for most of the season. With Teel’s promotion, it wasn’t clear how they would distribute the playing time.
It was possible to envision a three-catcher setup, as the club doesn’t have an everyday designated hitter. Teel has also been doing some work at first base. With Andrew Vaughn having been recently optioned, it would have been possible for Lee, Quero and Teel to all get regular playing time by sharing the catching duties as well as DHing and maybe Teel playing some first base.
Instead, it seems the Sox will go with a more straightforward two-catcher setup, though it will be a very inexperienced duo. Teel has yet to make his debut while Quero has just 38 games under his belt.
Lee isn’t exactly a veteran but he has been around a bit longer than those two. He’s still only 26 years old but got some brief big league time in 2022 and 2023 before becoming a regular in 2024. All told, he has 175 major league contests on his track record. That’s not a ton, relatively speaking, but it does make him the most experienced of the three catchers and the one most familiar with the Chicago pitching staff.
He also has the least upside of the three. He was a notable prospect, getting selected 32nd overall by the Astros in 2019, but his production has stalled out at the upper levels. He has a .192/.231/.315 batting line and 51 wRC+ in the majors. Dating back to the start of 2023, he has a .281/.331/.395 line and 85 wRC+ at the Triple-A level. Outlets such as Baseball Prospectus and Statcast aren’t thrilled with his work behind the plate either.
Quero and Teel, on the other hand, have each hit well at the Triple-A level recently. Quero’s major league offense hasn’t produced much power yet but he’s drawing walks and avoiding strikeouts, leading to a passable .256/.343/.306 line and 91 wRC+. Rolling with the Quero/Teel duo gives the Sox a fairly inexperienced catching corps in the short term but it seems that doesn’t bother them. They surely aren’t expecting to compete anytime soon, so they will let their best catchers get the big league playing time and gain that experience during the rebuilding process.
That will leave Lee in the minors as a depth option. If he stays down for at least 20 days, he will burn his final option year in 2025. If that comes to pass, that would leave him out of options going into 2026.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images