2023 MLB Draft Report: An Early Look at catcher Kyle Teel

The Chicago White Sox have a shortage of major-league catching talent within the farm system. Yasmani Grandal is a free agent after this season. With his age and health, it’s not a sure bet Grandal would return to the White Sox in 2024. That leaves the near future in the hands of Seby Zavala, who is acceptable as a backup catcher but is not a consistent enough hitter to merit starting 100+ games. Following Zavala is Carlos Perez, and his defensive skills at times are so bad I’m not even sold that he’s much of a catcher. The bat is suitable for AAA but not good enough to overcome his defensive shortcomings. 

After Perez, it’s just a bunch of guys for the White Sox system. Adam Hackenberg hit .231/.328/.343 with Winston-Salem last year over 78 games, and then it got much worse when he participated in Project Birmingham, hitting .167/.239/.262 in 14 games. One could argue the White Sox don’t have a ready-made replacement for Grandal, and even if they rolled the dice with Zavala for 2024, I’m not sold on Perez being a reliable backup. It’s a pretty dire future at catcher for the White Sox. 

With draft picks needing a couple of seasons to develop into major leaguers (typically), there’s nobody in this upcoming class the White Sox could select to help them in 2024. They’ll need to venture into the free agency and trade markets to assist in the short term. This upcoming MLB Draft could help in the long term.

Unfortunately, it’s not a deep catching class. The top catching prospect is prep player Blake Mitchell. However, some scouts have been impressed enough with his athleticism that he could move behind home plate and into the infield, either at shortstop or third base. 

The highest-rated college catcher is Virginia’s, Kyle Teel. I watched his game action this past weekend against Rhode Island. Unlike last week when watching Maryland shortstop Matt Shaw had a terrible series, Teel tormented Rhode Island’s pitching staff. In three games, Teel went 10-for-13 with 8 R and 6 RBI.

Kyle Teel vs. Rhode Island Scouting Report

Defense

When evaluating catchers, the first box needing to be checked off is the defense. Pitch framing is still necessary until the majors finally welcome the robot overlords to call balls and strikes. Not only to try and steal strikes on the edges but also to ensure strikes are being called strikes. That poor framing doesn’t fool an umpire into believing a borderline strike is not a ball. Then there is pitch blocking, where more spin is coming at catchers than ever. 

Throwing will be more critical with larger bases and new pick-off attempt rules. Can catchers demonstrate they have a sub-2.00 second pop time? Can they consistently show accuracy with throws to second base? Do they have the ability to back-pick runners on first base?

Finally, there is pitching calling. In college baseball, almost every program has pitches called from the dugout using PitchCom. It’s rare to have a college catcher call a game. That’s a skill set they learn while in the minors. 

Teel has a one-knee stance, which immediately sparks debate. Some hate the defensive stance because they believe it impacts the ability to block pitches effectively. Some don’t think it’s a good throwing position. I’ve always been curious about the defensive stance and learned much from Ryan Lavarnway’s experience using the one-knee stance for an entire season. 

The purpose of a one-knee stance, according to Lavarnway, was to improve pitch framing. Displaying better consistency in framing pitches low in the zone and making it believe a pitch remained in the zone even if it appears high. Lavarnway found that his framing skill vastly improved using the one-knee stance. 

Watching Teel, I get a sense that framing is his focus. He attempts to sell the umpire on pitches close to the corners or lower part of the zone. His hand movement could get a bit noisy. Too often, he’s pulling pitches into the zone and can give a false impression to the umpires. 

I didn’t see any pitches spin and bounce enough away from Teel to see his lateral movement in the one-knee stance. Since the catcher is already so low to the ground and one leg is stuck out as a guard, theoretically, it should be easy to squash low pitches. Nobody on Virginia’s pitching staff has the type of horizontal movement on sliders to challenge Teel. 

On bounced swinging strikeouts, Teel quickly transitioned from the one-knee stance into a good throwing position in front of home plate. 

Hitting

Again, Teel had a monster weekend against Rhode Island, going 10-for-13. He’s a left-handed hitter (bonus points for the White Sox) who starts his hands high in a standup stance. Teel has a leg kick to generate a violent swing as the pitch comes. You’ll see in his head just how much torque Teel is generating. Sometimes, even Teel’s helmet falls off, like when Yoan Moncada gets into a pitch. 

It took me a while to pinpoint a comp for Teel’s stance, which looked familiar. He had a good swing to pull pitches inside and middle but struggled to make good contact up or outside of the zone. Then I realized it looked similar to how former Milwaukee Brewers/Philadelphia Phillies Geoff Jenkins used to swing. 

In the video highlighted above, Teel’s first plate appearance of the series was ten pitches. Out of that sequence, Teel fouled off six pitches before rolling over on a middle-middle curveball that found the gap between the first and second basemen. That base knock netted a couple of RBIs for Teel, so the result was good. But that type of grounder gets fielded in the minor leagues. With no outs, Teel would have still done the job of driving in a run from third base. 

Second plate appearance, Teel wasted no time lifting a low fastball into a line drive single in center field. He did an excellent job recognizing the velocity and keeping his head down through the swing to barrel up the pitch. 

That head movement is vital. On the pitches Teel fouls off; you can notice that he doesn’t keep his head still during the swing. It feels like he bends at shoulder length to move his eyes into a better position. Or he’s preparing to overswing at a pitch to generate power. 

This next point is a bit nit-picking, but out of the ten hits from Teel, only two went for extra bases (doubles), and he didn’t have a home run all series. Currently, Teel has two home runs in 2023 which makes me wonder how much power he has in the bat. 

It’s good contact skills with a pull profile from a left-handed stance. That enough should make Teel interesting to the White Sox. 

Base Running

I did notice a good piece of base running by Teel. While on first base, there was a deep drive to center field that, for a moment, looked like the fielder could run down. Teel positioned himself excellently to keep the center fielder in his vision while waiting halfway between first and second base. When the fielder missed the deep fly, Teel was quick to motor over to third base. 

More times than not, on the college level, I see runners either standing on second base or not far enough off first base to reach third on such a hit. 

Overall

My first impression of Teel is he’s a solid but not spectacular catching prospect. I’ll need to watch more of him defensively to see if the one-knee stance gives him any additional advantages or disadvantages. Offensively, I would prefer if his head was more still to see if he can drive pitches on the outside corner. That could be Teel’s offensive kryptonite professionally. Of course, I would like to see more power from Teel in extra-base hits. 

I would grade Teel: 50 Defense | 50 Contact | 40 Power

NCBWA Top 25 (Week of March 6, 2023)

Games I’m Watching this Weekend: 

#14 NC State vs. #23 Miami (FL):

The next college position player I’m deep diving into is Miami third baseman Yohandy Morales. He had a good series against Florida last weekend, going 7-for-12, but all five outs Morales made resulted in a strikeout. For the season, Morales has 5 HR and is slashing .467/.528/.867. Dude can hit.