17 hours Ago By LaMond Pope
Kyle Teel was on his way to a training session when he received word he had been traded to the Chicago White Sox. “It came as a complete surprise. I definitely didn’t see it coming,” the catcher said during a recent video conference.
“The emotions I felt, was surprised at first but then excited as it settled in and ready to go.” The White Sox dealt pitcher Garrett Crochet to the Boston Red Sox on Dec. 11 for Teel and three fellow minor-leaguers: outfielder Braden Montgomery, infielder Chase Meidroth and right-handed pitcher Wikelman Gonzalez.
“I’m excited for the opportunity I’m being given by the White Sox,” Meidroth said last week. “I’m fired up for what’s to come.” All four players are ranked by MLB.
com among the top 15 prospects in the White Sox organization. Here’s a closer look at the new additions. Virginia catcher Kyle Teel bats on June 10, 2023, in Charlottesville, Va.
(AP Photo/Mike Caudill) The Sox have plenty of options behind the plate between players with big-league experience in Korey Lee and Matt Thaiss and prospects Edgar Quero and Teel. “It’s funny, I just saw on my Instagram that (Quero) followed me and I followed right back,” Teel said during the conference call, which took place a couple of days after the trade. “I’m excited to meet him.
Really looking forward to it.” MLB.com ranks the 22-year-old Teel as the No.
2 prospect in the White Sox organization. He slashed .288/.
386/.433 with 23 doubles, 13 home runs, 78 RBIs, 88 runs, 68 walks and 12 stolen bases in 112 games last season with Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester. “I learned a lot last season,” he said.
“I feel like there were certain times where there was an adjustment period. And it’s just how quickly can you get over that adjustment period and keep moving forward. Every time I’ve gone through those periods, I feel like I’ve gotten better out of it and taken so much.
“The most important thing has been what’s my routine, what do I have to do every day. When you’re playing 162 games, you need to be consistent with what you need to before the games so that you can be consistent with what you do throughout the season. I think that was the biggest thing, just homing in on my routine.
” A first-round draft pick (No. 14) in 2023 out of Virginia, Teel is excited to make the most of his new opportunity . “I’m trying to be the best I can be, competing against myself every day, and I think that is the best thing you can do really,” he said.
“Just compete against yourself and wherever you land, you land. Just give it your all every day, you know?” Montgomery did a little bit of everything during his junior season at Texas A&M. But his professional debut was delayed after he suffered a broken ankle in an NCAA super regional.
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“Up to regular sprints, regular hitting, everything is like normal.” Montgomery, 21, slashed .322/.
454/.733 with 14 doubles, 27 home runs, 85 RBIs, 53 walks and a 1.187 OPS in 61 games with the Aggies in 2024.
The Red Sox drafted him in the first round (No. 12). He is the No.
5 White Sox prospect in MLB.com’s rankings. A top high school prospect from Mississippi, Montgomery played two seasons at Stanford before transferring to Texas A&M.
“Just looking forward to getting back on the field,” he said. “I’m itching to get on the field. I miss hitting, so I’m excited to be out there with the guys.
” San Diego infielder Chase Meidroth plays in an NCAA regional championship against Oregon State on June 4, 2022, in Corvallis, Ore. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman) Meidroth displayed a great eye at the plate in 2024. His 105 walks led all minor-league players, and his .
437 on-base percentage ranked third. “I’m just trying to get on base for the next guy and pass the torch in the lineup,” he said during a video conference last week. Meidroth slashed .
293/.437/.401 with 20 doubles, three triples, seven home runs, 57 RBIs and 13 stolen bases in 122 games with Worcester in 2024.
He was a fourth-round draft pick in 2022 after three seasons at the University of San Diego. Meidroth, 23, appeared in 51 games at shortstop, 35 at third base and 19 at second in 2024. MLB.
com ranks him 13th among White Sox prospects. “My goal this offseason was to get a lot stronger and more athletic,” he said. “Maybe tapping into a little more power and let that come, not by forcing it, but by putting in that time in the gym and to create that power moving forward.
” Wikelman Gonzalez with the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Gonzalez had a shaky beginning to his 2024 season, accumulating a 7.
38 ERA through June for Portland. He turned it around in July (1.93 ERA in four starts) and August (1.
00 ERA in five appearances, three starts) and finished the season with a 4.73 ERA in 24 appearances (19 starts) and 92 strikeouts in 83 2/3 innings. “I kind of cleared out my mind,” Gonzalez said through an interpreter during a video conference last week.
“I had a lot of stuff on my mind. “I was thinking a lot, then I just cleared out my mind and started to pay more attention to my bullpens, working with more details during my bullpens, and that was the reason why I was able to get the results that I got at the end.” Gonzalez is 21-15 with a 4.
54 ERA and 491 strikeouts during five minor-league seasons after signing with the Red Sox as an international free agent in 2018 out of Maracay, Venezuela. He was the organization’s minor-league starting pitcher of the year in 2023, which included a no-hitter for Portland against New Hampshire. MLB.
com ranks Gonzalez, 22, as the No. 14 White Sox prospect. “I just need to take advantage of this position and do my best and I know that I can do it with the experience I had in Boston,” he said.
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