I'll assume it's because they drafted his teammate in the 5th round. & I doubt it's much under but still cool to hear.
Boston Red Sox select Kyle Teel in the 2023 MLB draft.
- Thread starter TimScribble
- Start date
There's several good pieces on Guerrero. & I think he'll be really good for the Red Sox as early as next year.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/04/13/sports/bostons-own-luis-guerrero-hasnt-let-disability-keep-him-hard-work-rising-red-sox-pitching-ranks/
For full disclosure they did also draft & sign 3 other pitchers in that draft...
7-196 Wyatt Olds, 23 - 6.01 ERA in high-A last year & had a 10.17 ERA in AA this year in 25 innings before being sent to the FCL to try to figure some stuff out. He walked 5 per 9 last year & decided to up the ante to 14 per 9 you'd year prior to the demotion. He's been ok in the FCL - 4.05 ERA in 3 starts, but he's still a long way away. (SP)
10-286 Matt Litwicki, 24 - Due to a variety of injuries had pitched a total of 24.1 innings since 2017 prior to this year (yes....less than 5 innings per year for 5 years). Underslot guy. Recently started pitching in the FCL & has a 4.15 ERA in 4.1 innings. Too early to give up on him & would be a cool story if he starts progressing, but yeah. (RP)
19-556 Tyler Uberstine, 24 - Had a 4.32 ERA across single-A & high-A last year, including 2.43 in 33.1 innings at high-A. Would probably be on the other list if hasn't missed the entire season & had TJ surgery last month. (SP)
I am a UVA baseball season ticket holder so I watched Teel play a lot over the last 3 years. He is extremely high energy and plays with a lot of joy. Just fun to watch In addition to being a fantastic college baseball player.
For someone much more knowledgeable than me - how does Teel compare to Kevin Parada and Daniel Susac from last year’s draft class? I know Parada is a fringe top 100 prospect with the Mets right now, but I don’t think Susac has the same accolades. Both were highly ranked going into the draft by MLB where I think Parada was 6 and Susac was 12.
Is Teel close to either one of them in terms of what he brings to the table? Only reason I ask is that almost every year, it seems like there’s some fast rising college catcher that ends up receiving more praise than they deserve and looks like they’re over drafted in hindsight.
Is Teel close to either one of them in terms of what he brings to the table? Only reason I ask is that almost every year, it seems like there’s some fast rising college catcher that ends up receiving more praise than they deserve and looks like they’re over drafted in hindsight.
Can’t find the tweet to reference but I did see that Teel right now would be ranked around 8 in the Sox farm system.
Hey, he's improved across the board from last year to this year, repeating at AA. He's dropped his ERA from 5.54 to 5.51, upped his k/bb ratio from 1.95 to 1.98, and slashed his WHIP from 1.554 to 1.515. If that doesn't scream constant and never ending improvement, what does?
The Athletic has a couple great articles on him. Keith Law's analysis had him as "left handed hitting Jason Kendall"
In Jen McCaffrey's article https://theathletic.com/4681238/2023/07/11/kyle-teel-red-sox-catcher-of-the-future/ his athleticism is compared to Buster Posey (not saying he will be Buster Posey). The article also talks about him being on the Red Sox radar since he was a Junior in High School, and the relationship Red Sox scout Ray Fagnant forged with him.
Chad Jennings has a good article too https://theathletic.com/4678499/2023/07/10/catcher-kyle-teel-draft-red-sox/
He reminds me of the hard worker that Cal Raleigh was when we was drafted in 2018 in the 3rd round at 90 by Seattle. But Raleigh's hit package is not in the same neighborhood as Teel's. The similarities are 3 year starters, catching every game including double headers, playing in premier college conferences, and being the absolutely hardest workers on their teams. (As a Vermonter, I've followed Raleigh as both his father (Todd) and uncle (Matt) are VT baseball legends....we don't have many of those).
Interesting note from the Chad Jennings article: the last time a college catcher was drafted with the 14th overall pick was 1994 when Seattle drafted Jason Varitek.
I'm not sure what I can post from the paid site.
In Jen McCaffrey's article https://theathletic.com/4681238/2023/07/11/kyle-teel-red-sox-catcher-of-the-future/ his athleticism is compared to Buster Posey (not saying he will be Buster Posey). The article also talks about him being on the Red Sox radar since he was a Junior in High School, and the relationship Red Sox scout Ray Fagnant forged with him.
Chad Jennings has a good article too https://theathletic.com/4678499/2023/07/10/catcher-kyle-teel-draft-red-sox/
He reminds me of the hard worker that Cal Raleigh was when we was drafted in 2018 in the 3rd round at 90 by Seattle. But Raleigh's hit package is not in the same neighborhood as Teel's. The similarities are 3 year starters, catching every game including double headers, playing in premier college conferences, and being the absolutely hardest workers on their teams. (As a Vermonter, I've followed Raleigh as both his father (Todd) and uncle (Matt) are VT baseball legends....we don't have many of those).
Interesting note from the Chad Jennings article: the last time a college catcher was drafted with the 14th overall pick was 1994 when Seattle drafted Jason Varitek.
I'm not sure what I can post from the paid site.
Parada has more power, probably an overall better bat but Teel is better behind the plate. I’m not as versed on Susac (I follow ACC college baseball), but I think he’s a good comparison with maybe slightly better defensive skills and equal bat.
Granted it's the Pirates, but for a point of reference Henry Davis was selected 1st overall in 2021 (Mayer 4th) and he just popped onto the MLB roster.
I'd also use Patrick Bailey from SF as a pretty decent comp, since I tend to think of SF as a well run organization.
He was taken 13th in the 2020 draft out of NCState, (and there wasn't a minor league season for him to report to that year), so his first exposure to pro ball was in 2021.
Bailey spent most of '21 between A and A+. He spent "all" of last season repeating A+, but had an injury so only played in about 90 games. This season he combined for about 30 games between AA and AAA and is now up with the Giants (and putting up a 120 wRC+ over his first 40 games).
Incidentally, I really like the way SFG are replacing either injured or ineffective veterans by challenging their top prospects this season and seeing what they can do at the MLB level. Sure, it won't always work, but they've brought up Bailey after only 28 games split between AA and AAA; Blake Sabol after a combined 123g between the two, Casey Schmitt with a combined 125g; Brett Wisely with a combined 148g and Luis Matos with a combined 55g. I really hope to see something similar from the Sox in the 2nd half - obviously I do not mean "Teel"; here.
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One caveat here: In 20 games, he's only been behind the plate for one inning. Mostly played in the outfield
I can't imagine drafting a catcher first overall and converting him to an outfielder within two years... Have they announced longer term plan for him?
It looks like the Pirates love Davis's bat, the defense is coming less quickly, and they wanted him hitting in the big leagues as soon as possible. Supposedly he's getting tutored as a catcher while starting as an outfielder, though I would question whether that's really best for his development behind the dish. Here's a few quotes from an ESPN piece:
"The Pirates insist they remain committed to making Davis an everyday catcher. For now, however, the 23-year-old will spend most of his time -- at least during games -- getting a crash course in how to play right field at PNC Park."
"Davis' development as a catcher remains very much a work in progress. While Shelton said Davis will catch in games at the major league level at some point, for now, Davis will be tutored behind the scenes by veterans Jason Delay and Austin Hedges."
"There appears to be no rush to throw Davis behind the plate in a game situation. There is a major rush, however, to let him stand in the batter's box and swing away... They say they believe the catching will come at some point. The way he handles himself with the bat in his hands, however, made waiting for the defense to catch up less of a priority."
Regardless of their words about commitment to him as a catcher, I feel like these are not the actions of a team who thinks his defense at that position is going to play. A good hitting catcher is so valuable it doesn't make sense for Cherington and co to short-circuit that development unless they're giving up on it. Since that article he has had exactly one inning behind the plate, as E5 Yaz said, to go with 17 games in the outfield and 2 as DH.
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Davis has an 86 wRC+ & isn't a particularly good RF... seems like they're really stunting his growth by not just letting him catch in AAA if that's really where they envision him ending up.
Like we have a lightly used Adam Duvall they could have if they're that desperate for an outfield bat.
Like we have a lightly used Adam Duvall they could have if they're that desperate for an outfield bat.
Teel bumped up to Greenville after three games in the FCL. 2-4 with two singles, two rbi, one k in his A+ debut, batting second behind Anthony. Also threw out the only runner who tried him so far.
Kid is on the fast track.
Kid is on the fast track.
Be interesting to see how much of the future core can overlap. If we can get 3-5 years of Casas/Duran/Rafaela/Mayer/Yorke/Anthony plus Teel (or the players one or more bring in trade) on the big club together, we have an amazing few years ahead of us.
Getting arguably the second or third best college hitter in the draft, who is a super athlete, has a 1.7 pop time, and a legit catcher at 14 seems laughable. Goes to show the value in not locking into your guy in the first round. You must be nimble. Such a great pick.
That he'll be tutored by Jason Varitek is the icing on the cake. Hard not to be super excited about Teel.
Hard not to be excited about the Red Sox' future. Things for 2023 aren't looking great obviously, but man they've got a LOT of really, really exciting guys in the system now that might not be that far away.
Sorry, definitely not a Teel moment, but my one catcher at Provincials did the same thing 10 days ago, runners on 1st and 3rd, two away
He said he threw the ball and started walking off the field because he knew he nailed him. He said it was his biggest cocky moment in his last year of 18U baseball
Looked cool to me from the bench
Also, Kyle Teel looks very legit. Happy the Sox picked him
SoxProspects has him as "late 2026", but most things I've seen have been mid-'25.
I think end of season '25, rookie eligibility '26 probably makes sense, but way too early to guess accurately as to development based on a couple games.
Tonight, Teel was 3-5 with a double & a walk, & caught the only guy who tried to steal on him.
View: https://twitter.com/redsoxstats/status/1689816150694121472
View: https://twitter.com/redsoxstats/status/1689816150694121472
He seems to have adjusted well to the league but (I don’t watch much college ball) being High A - how big a jump is it from a major college baseball team? Comparable to A to AA? Regardless he looks to be on a fast track.
These minor league cameras are not sync’d so it is an illusion.
He does have an very impressive release though
Having a great catcher is more rare than a great SS. It completely changes the entire game as close to as much as a great QB can affect a team (I mean closest in relative sport terms).
IMO more so than a great starting pitcher who I think more like a great RB in a way.
IMO more so than a great starting pitcher who I think more like a great RB in a way.
It's interesting. I don't think a truly great defensive catcher is as rare as a truly great defensive shortstop. But a great defensive catcher who can also hit well? Those are basically unicorn dragons.
Who in the league even counts as that these days? Realmuto and Murphy?
I am a huge O'Hoppe fan, but based off what little I have seen of them both, I am way more excited for Teel.
I am still trying to come to grips with how he fell to 14. That, plus Mayer falling, and assuming they both fulfill expectations, means Luck was a Lady to the FO (and us).
