My alphabetical-ish review of the White Sox 2025 roster —@SoxNerd style — continues with a look at KYLE TEEL:
*Teel’s .312 home average …
—-was the highest by a Sox catcher in their current home and the highest overall since Carlton Fisk hit .345 in 1989 (minimum 96 at bats)
—-was the highest by a Sox lefty (min. 125 AB) since Adam Eaton hit .313 in 2014.
—-was the highest ever by a Sox rookie lefty in their current home
—-was the highest at home overall (including Comiskey Park) by a rookie lefty since Pete Ward hit .324 in 1963
—-was the fourth-highest at home by a Sox rookie (min. 125 at bats) in their current home and the highest by a Sox rookie since Tim Anderson hit .315 in 2016
—was tops on the 2025 Sox among players with at least eight at bats
*Teel’s .404 average with runners in scoring position in 2025 …
—led the bigs among players with at least 50 plate appearances
–was the best by a Sox lefty and a Sox rookie with a minimum of 68 plate appearances since 1951
—was the highest output by a Sox player since Frank Thomas’ .417 in 1997 (min. 68 plate appearances)
–was the fourth-highest output among players in his first season (minimum 60 plate appearances since 1951) behind Al Pedrique’s .458 in 1987, Ichiro Suzuki’s .445 in 2001 and Wade Boggs’ .421 in 1982.
*Teel’s .786 OPS was second on the 2025 Sox to Colson Montgomery’s .840
*Teel’s eight home runs in 2025 are tied with Ed Herrmann (1969) and Bill Nahorodny (1979) among Sox rookies who played at least 75 percent of their games at catcher
*Teel’s 38 runs are tied with Ray Schalk (1913) behind Mike Tresh’s 49 in 1939 among Sox rookies who played at least 75 percent of their games at catcher
*Teel’s .273 average in 2025 was second to Kevan Smith’s .283 average in 2017 among Sox rookies who played at least 75 percent of their games at catcher with at least 121 at bats
*Teel’s .375 on-base percentage is tied for third behind to Tresh’s .377 in 1939 and Eddie Malone’s .377 in 1949 among Sox rookies who played at least 75 percent of their games at catcher with at least 121 at bats
*Teel (7) and fellow rookie catcher Edgar Quero (14) made 21 starts in the third spot in the batting order in 2025. Between 1901 and 2024, Sox catchers made four starts in the No. 3 hole (George Dickey 1 in 1942, John Romano 1 in 1959, Cam Carreon 1 in 1961, Brian Downing in 1973).
*On Aug. 2, 2025, Teel became the first player to drive in the only run and catch a 1-0 Sox victory since Tyler Flowers did it on Opening Day 2013
*Teel (June 20) and Edgar Quero (April 23 and 27) are the only Sox catchers to bat cleanup within 11 games of their MLB debuts
*Teel was the first Sox catcher to collect a hit and throw out a runner trying to steal in an MLB debut (June 6) since Gerry McNertney on April 16, 1964
*Teel was the first catcher to start in a Sox win in his MLB debut since Alfredo Gonzalez on May 26, 2018 at Detroit and the first to do it at home since Bill Lindsey on July 18, 1987 vs. Cleveland
*Teel was the first Sox catcher to log his first MLB hit in a debut since Omar Narvaez on July 17, 2016 at the Angels. He was the first to do it at home since Robert Machado on July 24, 1996
*Teel’s start in the leadoff spot on Aug. 23 vs. Minnesota at Rate Field was the first by a White Sox catcher since Bruce Kimm on Aug 7, 1980. Teel, Kimm (2) and Downing are the only Sox catchers to start a game in the top spot. Teel is the only one to do it in a home game.
*Teel became just the second catcher in Sox history to amass at least three hits with a homer, a double, four RBI and a steal in a game on Sept. 4 in Minnesota. The only other time that happened was on Aug. 29, 2001 when Josh Paul pulled it off in Detroit.
*Teel (1), Quero (2), Fisk (3), AJ Pierzynski (4), Duane Josephson (1) and Phil Masi (2) are the only Sox catchers to have 3-hit games as a No. 3 batter.
*In 2025, Sox catchers — thanks mostly to Teel and Quero —- slashed .276/.374/.394. That’s a 103-point improvement in both batting average and slugging percentage and a 161-point boost in on-base percentage over the output of Sox catchers in 2024.
*Teel led the White Sox (min. 150 plate appearances) with a .288 average and .376 on-base percentage in the second half of 2025
*Teel’s streak of walks in six consecutive games in July of 2025 was the longest by a Sox rookie since Andy Gonzalez’s six-gamer in 2007 and the longest by a Sox rookie lefty since fellow catcher Mark Johnson’s six-gamer in 1999. … The last rookie with a streak longer than Teel’s was Mike Cameron’s eight-gamer in 1997
*Teel’s streak of reaching base in 20 consecutive games from Aug. 19 to Sept. 11, 2025 was the longest by a Sox rookie since Jose Abreu’s 20- and 22-gamers in 2014
*Teel (Aug. 18-19, 2025) joined Ray Durham (1995) as the only White Sox rookies since at least 1920 to log a 4+-hit game and a 4+-RBI game in consecutive contests
*Teel combined with Quero as the first rookies in Sox history to collect 3+ hits each as the 1-2 hitters in the lineup on Sept. 4, 2025 at Minnesota
*There’s probably more but I am stopping … FOR NOW
*NEXT: Matt Thaiss