WORCESTER, Mass. — Kyle Teel took the field at his fourth minor league level in just 13 months since the Red Sox drafted the catcher at No. 14 overall in the 2023 MLB Draft.
Making the jump to Triple-A with fellow top prospects Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony, Teel debuted for the WooSox at Polar Park on Tuesday night.
He did go hitless in four at-bats, but the Red Sox’s top catching prospect had a busy night with some positive adjustments to Triple-A.
Particularly, Teel won all three ABS challenges he enacted in the game, a rule currently working at the Triple-A level. Teel offered two challenges as a catcher and one as a hitter.
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“It’s great,” Teel said. “I wish I used a few more. It was my first time using it. I was a little conservative. I wanted to be careful and make sure they were going to go my way.”
Teel continued: “It definitely gives you an advantage. At the plate especially, you make a good take. That’s a hard thing to do. You practice taking those pitches. It pays off more when you can challenge. As a catcher, it’s great, too. Say you make a bad move on a pitch and he calls it a ball, you can still challenge it and get the pitch back. It’s great both ways on offense and defense.”
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Despite the hitless debut, Teel has no doubt he can carry over the impact production he had in Double-A as he jumps to the next level of the Red Sox system.
“I honestly am very confident with where I’m at at the plate,” Teel explained. “It’s one of those days that doesn’t make a difference to me. I’m gonna go out there tomorrow and nothing changes. Keep your head down and keep working hard.”
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Teel caught four pitchers in the WooSox victory as he prepares to work closely with a fairly new pitching staff.
“It was a great reunion working with the guys I’ve caught before in Double-A,” Teel added. “I know their stuff great. Nothing really changed. They did their job. It was awesome. For the guys I wasn’t familiar with, it was a pretty easy process to get to know them. They did a great job just telling me what they had and it was a really easy process getting to know their stuff and strengths. As the game went on, it got better and better.”
With room to grow after the debut, the Red Sox catcher felt solid about a “great” first day in Worcester.
