Kyle Teel has wasted little time in establishing himself as the top catching prospect in the Red Sox farm system.
After a storied three-year career at the University of Virginia, Teel was selected by Boston with the 14th overall pick in last summer’s amateur draft. The 21-year-old was viewed by most industry publications as the best catcher in his class and entered the professional ranks with lofty expectations as a result.
Though he supported the Yankees while growing up in suburban New Jersey, Teel officially signed with the Red Sox for exactly $4 million on July 21. Shortly after putting pen to paper and taking batting practice at Fenway Park, the Mahwah native headed south to Fort Myers to prepare for his highly-anticipated pro debut.
On August 3, Teel debuted for the rookie-level Florida Complex League Red Sox in their game against the FCL Orioles in Bradenton. He went 0-for-2 in that contest, but followed that up by hitting his first professional home run as part of 2-for-4 performance against the FCL Twins two days later. On the same day he went 0-for-2 with a walk in a 9-1 loss to the Orioles on Aug. 7, it was revealed that Teel would be making the direct jump to High-A Greenville.
Skipping Low-A Salem entirely as a result of that decision, Teel was inserted into Greenville’s lineup for the first time on Aug. 8. The left-handed hitter immediately strung together three consecutive three-hit games and went on to slash a stout .377/.485/.453 with four doubles, nine RBIs, 10 runs scored, one stolen base, 11 walks, and 11 strikeouts in 14 games (66 plate appearances) for the Drive.
As the calendar flipped from August to September, the Red Sox elected to promote both Teel and outfielder Roman Anthony from Greenville to Double-A Portland for the final stretch of the 2023 campaign. While Anthony — at 19 years old — became the first teenage prospect to make it to Double-A since Xander Bogaerts did so in 2012, Teel became the first Red Sox first-rounder since 2005 (Craig Hansen) to get to Boston’s Eastern League affiliate in the same year he was drafted.
Though Anthony and Teel were tasked with facing upper-minors pitching for the first time in their respective young careers, both were clearly up for the challenge. Teel, in particular, batted .323/.462/.484 with two doubles, one home run, 11 RBIs, three runs scored, two stolen bases, eight walks, and 11 strikeouts in his final nine games (39 plate appearances) of the year with the Sea Dogs.
All told, Teel compiled a .363/.482/.495 slash line (173 wRC+) with six doubles, two homers, 22 runs driven in, 15 runs scored, three stolen bases, 21 walks, and 22 strikeouts across 26 games spanning 114 trips to the plate at three different levels (FCL, High-A, and Double-A). Among the 89 Red Sox minor-leaguers who eclipsed the century mark in plate appearances last season, Teel led the pack in batting average, on-base percentage, OPS (.977), wRC+, and line-drive rate (31.9 percent), per FanGraphs.
Defensively, Teel unsurprisingly saw all of his playing time on the field in his pro debut come at catcher. Between his stops at Fort Myers, Greenville, and Portland, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound backstop logged 166 innings behind the plate, allowing only three passed balls while throwing out 12 of 41 potential base stealers. In four starts with the Sea Dogs specifically, he nabbed two would-be base stealers in nine attempts without committing an error.
Teel, who turns 22 next month, comes into 2024 ranked by Baseball America as the No. 3 prospect in Boston’s farm system (trailing only Marcelo Mayer and Anthony) and the No. 85 prospect in the sport. In somewhat similar fashion, MLB Pipeline currently regards Teel as the Red Sox’ fourth-ranked prospect (Ceddane Rafaela is ahead of him and behind Mayer/Anthony) and the 82nd-ranked prospect in baseball.
With plus arm strength and a strong defensive profile complementing a still-developing bat, Teel has the chance to emerge as Boston’s everyday catcher of the future. Barring a trade, which cannot be ruled out at this point, he is projected to return to Portland for the start of the 2024 minor-league season.
According to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, who also compiles the Red Sox’ organizational rankings for Baseball America, Boston won’t rush Teel out of Portland to begin the year since he only just started to learn to call his own games. Still, there is a chance that Teel works his way to Triple-A Worcester this season and puts himself in position to make his major-league debut by 2025.
In the meantime, Teel and 10 0ther Red Sox prospects are set to take part in the club’s annual rookie development program, which gets underway in Boston next Monday. Teel and several others from that group — including fellow catcher Nathan Hickey — will then head to Springfield for Winter Weekend at the end of the week.
(Picture of Kyle Teel: Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)