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Does moving Kyle Teel to left field make sense?

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The post Does moving Kyle Teel to left field make sense? appeared first on Sox On 35th.

As the new White Sox core begins to take shape, they have formed a potentially good problem, something the last rebuild lacked: depth at a single position. In this case, the discussion moves behind home plate to Edgar Quero and Kyle Teel, the latter of whom has been the subject of a potential positional change in an effort to find playing time for everyone.

So, would you put Teel in left field to start the season? Is there any world in which this makes sense?

We will discuss whether or not I personally would make a recommendation like this to the front office in a bit. However, the question of how to balance playing time between two players who deserve starter-level playing time is an interesting and worthwhile discussion, especially when clogging up the designated hitter position isn’t ultimately the optimal decision.

With that, let’s dive into the pros and cons – and ultimately discuss how there’s an existing player in the big leagues right now who serves as a potential test case for the idea.

The Case Against the Move

One of the biggest problems with moving Teel to left field – or to any other position for that matter – is that he’s the better catcher when comparing the two.

To be clear: defensively, they both have plenty of room to improve upon last season. Teel’s blocking skills and inability to throw out baserunners at a high level bring down an overall league-average catching profile, while Quero’s deficiencies largely are hidden to the naked eye by his ability to back-pick runners. And yes, while in time that framing metric might not matter much with the gradual implementation of the Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS), framing is still an important component of catching.

At this point, neither does anything particularly well behind the plate, but the overall body of work (both offense and defense included) would point towards Teel being the catcher of the future for the Chicago White Sox, not Quero.

That being said, I’m still very much of the belief that they are both major league starting catchers in the long term, and I’m not ready to dismiss either of them without a larger sample size behind the plate, as there is a long history of catchers who have improved defensively with time. However, until one or both of them begin to take strides forward behind the plate, offense is going to be a big part of the equation here. In this case, Quero has steps forward to take both offensively and defensively, and until he does, I’m not sure it makes sense to be making decisions that set him up to be the catcher of the future at the expense of Teel’s abilities and development back there.

There’s also the more obvious problem of playing key players out of position, something that plagued the White Sox in their last rebuild when both Andrew Vaughn (37% of all appearances) and Gavin Sheets (73% of all appearances) saw far too significant time in left field and right field to fill roster shortcomings. Outside of the obvious problem of poor defense that resulted from these decisions, Vaughn also spent significant time in his first few years with the White Sox either rehabbing an injury from the outfield or dealing with the “achy legs” that came from a career first baseman attempting to play the outfield.

Now, leg issues would probably be less of a problem when moving a catcher – the most demanding defensive position – to the outfield, but there are no guarantees on what the defense would look like. Many of the calls to move Teel to the outfield come from a place of trying to limit the playing time of Andrew Benintendi from both an offensive and especially defensive perspective. Benintendi still has two more years left on his deal and was the ninth-worst defensive outfielder last season by Outs Above Average (OAA), so it’s far from a guarantee that the White Sox find a suitor for him. At the same time, he’s also coming off his strongest season with the team and posted a 152 wRC+ over his final 100 plate appearances of the season.

The White Sox have to find the right balance of playing time for Benintendi to make him appealing enough to be a trade candidate. Perhaps moving him to designated hitter is the correct move, but, with only two years left here that (surprise) are not likely to be contending seasons for the White Sox, is it worth making defensive adjustments to players who are part of the future for those who aren’t? Again, that’s a question for the White Sox to answer, but I know how I would answer it.

With the existing questions surrounding the catching position and the unknowns surrounding the return on investment of moving Teel to the outfield – especially given previous case studies – I’m just not convinced this is the right move for the White Sox to entertain this offseason. It would require the White Sox pushing all of the eggs into the “Quero is the future behind the plate” basket, and no matter which way you look at things, I’m not sure that’s the right investment right now.

The Case for the Move: A Proof of Concept

However, if I were to be convinced that moving Teel to left field would be a good idea, the best way to do that is to have a use case/proof of concept already existing that shows the value of something like this actually working out. Lucky for us, that exists in the form of Tyler Soderstrom, catcher left fielder for the Oakland Sacramento Athletics.

Soderstrom was drafted as a catcher and was forced to first base with the rise of Shea Langeliers, then needed a new home once again with the rise of Nick Kurtz this season. So, a few weeks into a new year, Soderstrom found himself playing left field this past season with no previous experience.

It wasn’t smooth sailing at all times, but by the end of the season, Soderstrom was nominated for an AL Gold Glove in left field. It was a well-deserved and impressive nomination as well: Soderstrom posted +5 OAA in left field, tied for second-most with Cody Bellinger, Steven Kwan, and Wyatt Langford. They trailed the leader, Isaac Collins of the Brewers, by just +1 OAA.

How did Soderstrom do it? Well, he largely relied on the athleticism that helped him get to the major leagues at the most demanding defensive position in the first place, especially given that he had never played left field defensively before at any level.

Now, why does all of this matter in relation to Teel? It goes back to the “athleticism” point – in particular, when you look at their comparative measurables, they’re very similar players.

The athleticism largely comes through in terms of arm strength and sprint speed, in which the two post identical numbers. So, the theory is that if these two are similar in these areas, it’s reasonable to infer that Teel might be able to make the same transition into the outfield. What gives this theory some extra credence is that, unlike Soderstrom, Teel does have experience playing the outfield at the college level.

“It’s like riding a bike. Played outfield in college. Played for the collegiate national team in left and right field. Shag out there all the time, so I was just hoping they would hit me the ball.

I take pride in my athleticism and wherever the team needs me at any point I’m willing to go.”

There’s that “athleticism” word again, this time coming from Teel after he played left field for an inning this year in a June 19th loss to the Cardinals in 10 innings. Something about catchers priding themselves on their athleticism…

In telling the story of Soderstrom, it’s similar to Teel in that both were average to below-average defensively. But Soderstrom was a first-round pick, and Langeliers – while struggling defensively – was (and still is) putting up 30 home run seasons. So, the comparison differs in that Langeliers forced the move for Soderstrom far more than Quero has.

When considering how Teel’s offensive profile would fit different positions, his 125 wRC+ would tie for 10th among qualified first basemen and tie for second among qualified left fielders. So, offensively, he would fit the profile of either position. Interestingly enough, the player who also ranked 10th among first basemen and second among left fielders in 2025 with a 125 wRC+? You guessed it: Tyler Soderstrom.

So What Should the White Sox Do?

If the ultimate question was whether or not there is a case for moving Teel to left field next season, Soderstrom goes to show that there is, in fact, at the very least, A case to point to for the White Sox if it’s something to consider. Two players with similar offensive profiles and overall athleticism that, on paper, could lead to the natural conclusion that it’s something worth exploring.

That being said, if I were working in the front office as an analyst, I wouldn’t make the recommendation to explore this at the current time. Teel has established himself at a level Soderstrom hadn’t reached early in his career, and Edgar Quero hasn’t established himself as the team’s catcher of the future. If anything, I’d re-frame the idea and instead start exploring ways to make sure Edgar Quero can keep his name in the lineup and continue his development without coming at the expense of Kyle Teel. If you listen to the latest episode of the Sox On 35th Podcast, I even advocate for the idea of exploring trading Edgar Quero.

When it comes to the opinions of those people that actually matter, at least at at current, Chris Getz and the White Sox don’t seem too particularly keen on the idea of repeating some of their previous Andrew Vaughn and Gavin Sheets decisions. Speaking about the White Sox’ offseason, Getz didn’t commit to the idea of positional changes for either Teel or Quero – even alluding far more to the idea of trading one than asking them to learn a different position.

“Is there an opportunity to repurpose some of these players to help in other areas? Sure, we’re open-minded to it. But more than anything, I feel really good about where we are on the catching front. That hasn’t been the case in the past. We’re going to use that to our benefit moving forward.”

– Chris Getz via Chicago White Sox on SI

I’ll end this the same way I started it: the White Sox currently have a good problem on their hands with Teel and Quero. I’d rather see both players fully develop a bit more before asking them to make positional changes, especially considering that the one that would potentially be asked to change position is the one I’d personally call the catcher of the future for the White Sox.

Still, though, it’s refreshing to have these sorts of good problems at the big league level.

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Featured Image: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

The post Does moving Kyle Teel to left field make sense? appeared first on Sox On 35th.