White Sox have a promising group of young catchers as they continue to rebuild

By Canadian Press on February 15, 2025.

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — When it comes to the catchers for the Chicago White Sox, Korey Lee sees a common thread.

“We got a lot of hard workers,” Lee said. “I think that’s kind of what we’re going to set our tone with. I think we set the tone with the entire team.”

Making their way through a painful rebuilding process — one that crashed to a record-breaking 121 losses a year ago — the White Sox have accumulated an impressive group of young catchers that could form the foundation of the team in the future.

Lee, 26, and Edgar Quero, 21, were acquired in a pair of July 2023 trades. The White Sox shipped reliever Kendall Graveman to Houston for Lee, and they got Quero and left-hander Ky Bush from the Los Angeles Angels for pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López.

Kyle Teel, who turned 23 on Saturday, was added when Chicago traded Garrett Crochet to Boston in a blockbuster deal in December.

The White Sox also have veterans Matt Thaiss and Omar Narváez in camp this year, along with Adam Hackenberg, an 18th-round pick in the 2021 amateur draft.

“Yeah, we like all those guys,” first-year manager Will Venable said. “And they’re all guys that are right there. You know they’re athletic, they can do a lot of different things on the field.”

Catching wasn’t exactly a focal point for the rebuilding process for Chicago’s front office. The string of additions behind the plate happened naturally.

“It was more a function of bringing back the highest value that we can in some of our trade acquisitions and knowing that, for one, everyone is on the hunt for catching,” general manager Chris Getz said. “So when we happen to acquire an Edgar Quero or Kyle Teel or Korey Lee that they’re going to hold value for a long time, just because I’ve experienced so many offseasons where teams are on the hunt to find catching.”

Ranked among baseball’s top prospects, Quero and Teel each had two minor league stops last season and finished the year at the Triple-A level. The switch-hitting Quero batted .280 with 16 homers and 70 RBIs. Teel, a first-round pick in the 2023 amateur draft, hit .288 with 13 homers and 78 RBIs.

Lee is further along after he made his big league debut with Houston in 2022. He got off to fast start with Chicago last year before fading down the stretch, finishing with a .210 batting average, 12 homers and 37 RBIs in 125 games.

“I’m just trying to be consistent in this game,” Lee said. “You’re going to ride that roller coaster a couple times, but it’s just how much can you be on that high end of the roller coaster and how consistent can you be day in and day out.”

Catching development can be a tricky proposition because of the position’s defensive responsibilities. Lee learned a lot about that side of the game from working with Martín Maldonado, first with the Astros and again with the White Sox last year.

“You gotta have the drive to want to be a catcher. … You got to be present. You got to be in there every single pitch,” Lee said. “That’s something that I carry (with me). Learned it from Maldy when I was over in Houston and obviously last year with him. He paved a really, really good road for me to continue this career.”

____

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Jay Cohen, The Associated Press

20
-19