Angel Rosario, the bench coach of the Double-A Birmingham Barons in 2024, remembers the first conversation he had with Edgar Quero. The young catching prospect didn’t wait for his new coaches to come to him with suggestions on where he could improve. He already knew.
“The only thing that he told us was, ‘I want to be better,’ ” Rosario. now the bench coach at Triple-A Charlotte, told the Sun-Times last week. “He told us, ‘I want to do everything that I have to do to be better. I have to improve my receiving needs to improve right now.’ ”
It was a snapshot into the mind of a player attuned to his deficiencies and wanting to turn them into strengths.
The White Sox, who called up Quero from Charlotte on April 16, have shown marginal improvements in their defensive consistency and cleanliness of play, but at 7-21, they’re only a little better than last year’s 121-loss group was (6-23) at this point on April 29.
The difference is that this team already has seen the influence of two new talents — Quero and infielder Chase Meidroth. And the season is likely to be viewed through the lens of how much they grow and develop.
Quero, a switch-hitter, has made an instant impact with his bat, impressing manager Will Venable and his teammates by slashing .344/.462/.406 with two doubles and six walks in 11 games. But the bat was never much of a question for him. Proving himself on defense was. Rosario said he and catching coordinator Julio Mosquera worked with Quero to refine his technique and keep his upper body higher to create a bigger target for pitchers.
At Birmingham and Charlotte, he worked the most on his framing but was open to anything to improve. He dug into analytical reports, bought an iPad to do his own scouting reports and watched hours of video of himself from previous years, searching for any information that could help him.
“He’s always ready to work and open to learn,” Rosario said. “He wants to be one of the best catchers in the big leagues.”
The bat wasn’t much of a question for Quero. It was defensively where the young catcher would have to prove himself. But it’s a testament to his self-awareness that Quero has been willing to put the work in to improve his receiving, game-calling and blocking.
“My framing,” Quero said of an area he’s improved the most before his April 17 debut. “I was working a lot on my framing, especially at the beginning of the season in Triple-A. I feel pretty good and I’m ready to go.”
That work started in Birmingham with Rosario. The two worked with a machine and foam balls to really hone in on his technique. Rosario said he worked with Quero on keeping his glove down and working on his timing.
“You have to let the ball travel because if you’re not on time, you’re gonna miss,” Rosario said. “One of the biggest things for a catcher is, ‘How are you gonna get that strike?’ Because one strike can change one game.”
But what also helped Quero was getting to know the pitchers and their tendencies, a critical part of the game for any catcher. But learning an entire pitching staff can be daunting for a young catcher still ironing out the nuances of the game.
“He’s been phenomenal both at the plate and behind the plate,” right-hander Sean Burke said. “He’s continuing to get better and better each day. It’s impressive to see how hard he’s working. The pregame work is translating to the game. It’s cool to watch.”
Catcher Matt Thaiss said learning a pitching staff is “a lot.”
“It’s something you do over seasons, not just one, but spring training and throughout the year,” Thaiss told the Sun-Times. “That and scouting reports are the two hardest things. [Catchers] have 13 pitchers here to worry about and they’re all different. They also have different things that make them tick.”
But tough is what Quero wants. He’s not an easily satisfied player. He has an insatiable hunger to improve. But that personality trait is also why Rosario often tells Quero to “have fun.”
“He wants to be better all the time,” Rosario said. “ Sometimes he is very hard on himself. I just want him to go out and compete.”