Red Sox
“At first it was a complete shock, just because I didn’t see it coming.”
Kyle Teel changed his Sox this week, going from Red to White in a trade that sent himself and three other prospects to Chicago in exchange for starting pitcher Garrett Crochet to Boston.
The 22-year-old catching minor leaguer didn’t expect to be traded this offseason, though.
Alongside the Red Sox’ other top three prospects in Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell, and Marcelo Mayer, Teel was potentially cementing himself as a big part of the club’s future. Teel was even promoted to Boston’s Triple-A affiliate Worcester Red Sox with Anthony and Mayer on the same day earlier this year, which seemed to symbolize the organization’s blueprint.
The trio held a group press conference together at Polar Park upon their promotion.
Safe to say, Teel, named the No. 25 prospect in baseball by MLB.com, didn’t think he would be dealt.
“So I’m driving to go train actually and it’s about 2, 3 o’clock. It’s like a normal every day for me, and I get a phone call and I don’t know what it’s about,” Teel said on 670 The Score’s “Bernstein & Harris Show”, detailing how he found out he was being traded. “And pretty much they let me know I got traded. And at first it was a complete shock, just because I didn’t see it coming.
“And as it settled in, I would say the main emotions I felt was just being surprised and being excited for this opportunity.”
Teel was drafted by the Red Sox No. 14 overall in 2023. He reached Double-A that same year and spent the majority of 2024 at that level before being promoted to AAA in August.
If Teel had remained in Boston’s farm system, he may have gotten a chance to play in the big leagues at some point in 2025. After Reese McGuire finished out the season in Worcester and elected free agency, and Danny Jansen signed with the Tampa Bay Rays, the Red Sox needed a backup catcher behind Connor Wong.
However, following Teel landing in Chicago, Boston made a trade with the New York Yankees for Carlos Narvaez.
White Sox manager Chris Getz explained the importance of the catching position in baseball and said Teel will be a big part of his team’s rebuilding process.
“When you talk about accelerating a rebuild, this was a deal that we feel like can do that,” Getz said on Wednesday. “… To have strength [at catcher] is really important to us. … Catching is gold right now in this game based on conversations we’ve had with other clubs.”
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