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.