SEATTLE — The White Sox won’t get Kyle Teel back for at least another three weeks after their prized catcher sprained a knee ligament during a rehabilitation assignment on his way back from a pulled hamstring.
The second-year backstop could be out up to six weeks, the Sox announced Monday before their series opener against the Mariners, although it took Teel longer than that to recover from the hammy he pulled while playing for Team Italy during the World Baseball Classic.
“Happy that it wasn’t a tear or anything,” manager Will Venable said. “With the sprain, hopefully it’s just a matter of weeks and not months that he’s back healthy and running around and playing.”
It’s a frustrating setback for Teel, 24, who hit .273/.375/.411 with eight homers in 78 games during his rookie campaign last year.
He had appeared poised for his 2026 debut during this West Coast road trip until tweaking his right knee on Saturday at Triple-A Charlotte, during an at-bat in “a softer box” that caught his cleat mid-swing, Venable said.
That means more time behind the plate for Edgar Quero, who had struggled mightily at the plate until his heroics in Sunday’s Crosstown Classic finale, when he went 3-for-5 with a walkoff home run.
Drew Romo has also shown surprising pop with four homers in 13 games, but the Sox miss Teel’s glove as much as his bat.
“Just objectively, not where we want to be defensively, blocking and framing,” Venable said. “There’s things these guys continue to work on very hard.”