The White Sox Have a Once in a Lifetime Duo on Their Hands

At the trade deadline in 2023, former Chicago White Sox general manager Rick Hahn shipped off Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez to the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for two minor league players: Edgar Quero and Ky Bush.

Quero, then 20 years of age, was a top 100 prospect by most publications, which made the trade somewhat surprising, as both Giolito and Lopez were on expiring contracts.

But it was clear from that day forward, Quero would be the future backstop of the Chicago White Sox…

…or was it?

Fast forward a year and some months, Chris Getz sent one of the biggest breakouts of the 2024 season, Garrett Crochet, to the Boston Red Sox. The White Sox received 4 minor league players in the deal: Braden Montgomery, Chase Meidroth, Wikelman Gonzalez, and the most interesting piece in the deal, Kyle Teel… another catcher.

Teel was drafted out of the University of Virginia with the 14th overall pick of the 2023 MLB Draft, one spot ahead of the White Sox, who ultimately went with Jacob Gonzalez.

That one single pick difference likely changed the future of both the White Sox and Red Sox.

Now, I have no idea if the White Sox would have selected Teel had he fell one pick farther. But if he did and the White Sox did draft him, who knows what would’ve happened. Would Quero still be the return for Giolito and Lopez?

It’s a fun hypothetical to think about, but thankfully we don’t have to stress on it too much, because both Teel and Quero are looking to be core pieces of the White Sox going forward. Now that the season has wrapped up, we can look back at what was a new beginning for Chicago White Sox baseball.

Teel and Quero, 23 and 22 respectively, both put up very solid rookie seasons for the White Sox. Teel amassed 1.9 fWAR and posted a 125 wRC+ across 78 games, Quero sits at -0.2 fWAR and a 95 wRC+ across 111 games. These numbers are down largely due to a rough June and September.

But fWAR aside, how often do you see two young catchers get as much playing time as Teel and Quero have, with the success that both of them have had?

I’ll answer that for you: you don’t.

Since 1900, there have been two teams to have two catchers, both aged 23 or younger, take 280 or more PAs in a single season: the 1975 Montreal Expos (Gary Carter and Barry Foote), and the 2025 White Sox.

That stat alone should get you pretty excited, but if we include their wRC+ and fWAR numbers, it gets even better.

• 1975 Carter: 113 wRC+, 3.2 fWAR
• 1975 Foote: 35 wRC+, -1.5 fWAR

Remember what Quero and Teel’s numbers were?

In short, the White Sox have had a pretty unique “problem.” It’s not even much of a problem, more of a blessing. Two young catchers who can provide value both at the plate and behind it.

Rarely do you see a catcher post 1.9 fWAR at age 23 or younger, like Teel has. In fact, out of 1362 catchers to take a plate appearance in their age 23 or younger season, it’s only happened 96 times. Only the top 7% can claim that number, and Teel is part of that 7%.

So we’ve established that what Quero and Teel are doing is once in a lifetime. What happens next? You can’t just clog the designated hitter spot with another catcher, that seems impractical.

In fact, I’d argue the opposite is true.

The Adjustment Period

With the implementation of the ABS challenge system next year in MLB, catcher framing numbers could see a trend downwards across the league. That’s not saying framing won’t matter, but if a hitter doesn’t agree with a called strike three that the catcher pulled into the zone, he can get it overturned.

I bring this up because the main defensive snag both Quero and Teel ran into in their rookie seasons was framing, Quero more so than Teel.

According to Baseball Savant, Quero had -13 framing runs and Teel was net neutral with 0. Some might see those numbers and immediately banish Quero off of catching duties, but I wouldn’t be so quick to do that.

Prior to the 2024 season, the White Sox hired Walker McKinven to be Will Venable’s bench coach. He was previously in Milwaukee as their Run Prevention Coordinator, in which he worked with all fielders to improve their defense, especially catchers.

In Milwaukee, McKinven and company turned William Contreras from 15th percentile framing numbers in 2022, when he was with the Braves, to 93rd percentile in 2023. If Quero and Teel have a full offseason to work with McKinven and other coaches, I think we can expect some improvement from both.

Additionally, catchers can just take a bit longer to adjust behind the plate. Blue Jays backstop Alejandro Kirk didn’t post a season with positive framing runs until 2022, his third year in the league. From 2022 and beyond, Kirk ranks second in the league in framing runs, only Giants defensive wizard Patrick Bailey sits higher.

Now, I’m not saying to go into 2026 with the expectation of Quero and Teel to mirror Contreras and Kirk, but I’d be pretty surprised if both of them didn’t have better seasons than this year.

But the way to have both of them improve is to get both of them innings behind the plate, which is going to be tricky to navigate.

Utilization of Both

Kyle Teel played some left field in college (and one inning in MLB this year), so some White Sox fans might sentence him to an outfield role, but I don’t think the trigger should be that quick.

Teel was the better framer of the two, and seemed to work better with pitchers. That’s not a knock to Quero, just observing what happened in games.

But if you go forward with the idea of both developing as catchers, how does that work? Split it 81 games down the middle?

With veteran outfielders like Andrew Benintendi and Mike Tauchman, you need to get them off their feet some games. If one of them is the designated hitter, you can’t use that DH spot for whichever catcher isn’t behind the plate that day.

If I had to guess, it’s somewhere down the middle. Whichever catcher the White Sox prefer gets four days a week behind the plate, two at designated hitter, and a rest day. The other spends four at DH, two at catcher, and one resting.

The White Sox did a good job of utilizing both Quero and Teel down the stretch, and I think it shows the willingness to split duties at catcher. Not to say it’s a 1-to-1 comparison, but the Braves did something similar with Sean Murphy and Travis d’Arnaud when they were both in Atlanta.

Now, could the White Sox move Teel to a corner outfield spot, or Quero to 1B? Absolutely. But I don’t think we’re at that point yet. Like the Alejandro Kirk discussion, sometimes catchers take a while to develop defensively. Let’s see where it stands a year from now, and then we can talk about shifting one off of catcher.

An interesting take on everything that I’ve heard in X comments is: If the White Sox were absolutely sure that Quero was the future catcher, why trade for Teel? It’s a great point, and I think it comes down to positional value.

In 2025, there were 2 teams that amassed 5 fWAR at the catcher position as a team, the Mariners and the Blue Jays. If one of Teel or Quero blossoms into a 4 fWAR player (tall task, yes), the other just needs to be slightly above average for the White Sox to have an elite catching tandem.

Would you trade out of an elite catching duo for an average player at a different position (probably OF or 2B)? It’s a difficult decision, and I’d lean no.

A franchise catcher is one of the hardest things to come by in MLB. Since 2020, only two primary catchers have racked up 20 fWAR, or 4 fWAR/year, which is the lowest total of any position group.

I’m not saying Teel or Quero will become Raleigh or Smith. But you should take as many chances as on a franchise catcher as you have, and the White Sox are doing that.

Who Is the Future?

If you asked me this question a year ago, I would’ve said “Edgar Quero is absolutely the future catcher of the Chicago White Sox.”. Now, I’m not so sure.

I think the days of catchers being behind the plate for 155 games are behind us. Of course there are exceptions for the elite of the elite like Cal Raleigh this year, but I don’t expect Quero or Teel to be Raleigh immediately.

Catchers by committee might be the future, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the White Sox split the catching duties next year.

I think an offseason Mike Tauchman trade is incoming. That would clear up an OF/DH spot for one of the two. A Lenyn Sosa trade wouldn’t shock me either, and that would open up a 1B role.

My point is, there are a plethora of different ways to get both Quero and Teel involved daily, and I would be stunned if the White Sox front office moved one of them so quickly. There hasn’t been anything glaringly awful about either of their profiles to suggest that they can’t handle being a big leaguer.

Like I said earlier, I think the split of four days at C, two at DH, one rest is the ideal split for me. That would be the way you can develop both without sacrificing the other.

Now, do the White Sox think this way? Who knows.

But I can assure you, the future of the catcher position has never been brighter for the White Sox. There may not be a better young catching duo in the history of the sport.

It’s time to enjoy the ride. Hopefully it’s a thrilling one.