Back in June, Kyle Teel’s first home run of the season, was preceded by a talking to in the dugout from White Sox manager Will Venable.
The gist: Go easier on yourself. It’ll come.
Instead, Teel ended up missing another six weeks with an injury, and now he’s likely to finish with fewer than 40-regular season games in his second season in the majors.
As the Sox guard a slim lead in the American League Central standings, the stakes of every at-bat have risen, and the temptation to press is there for the 24-year-old tapped to be their long-term solution behind the plate.
Reminded of his conversation with Venable about going easier on himself, Teel conceded, “It’s a great point.”
“Not trying to do everything at once, not trying to figure everything out at once, is important, while still having the urgency to get to where you want to be,” he told the Sun-Times on Thursday. “My biggest thing is, how can I do a job and put us in the best situation?”
Teel said his pitch-framing — a huge part of why the Sox regard his defense so highly — is slightly better from last season, going by a small sample. On offense, the two home runs he has popped in six games since returning from his sprained left ankle have lent a glow to his production, but he’s still hitting .192/.267/.372 on the season.
After the work he did to bulk up and add strength over the winter, that’s not the breakout the Sox had anticipated in the spring.
“He has bigger movements to get the slack out of his swing,” hitting director Ryan Fuller said. “He has done an amazing job of being stronger, more stable, where those movements just get a little bit more refined and tighter. So it’s not going to be as big of a move to get his swing off.”
It’s less than 100 plate appearances, but Statcast data shows that Teel is yet another White Sox hitter who has seen a significant jump (3 mph) in bat speed. Pulling the ball in the air for power more was his explicit goal last season, and the same data shows he’s catching pitches out in front more than his rookie year, where he hit an impressive .273/.375/.411 but also lifted a mild eight homers in 78 games.
Perhaps the most encouraging element for Teel is that on the heels of blasting a 96 mph fastball out of the park to right field Tuesday night, his swing feels the same as it always has.
“The thing is, I’m not trying to pull it in the air, either — I’m just trying to put a good swing on the ball,” he said. “I would love to tell you that I made a huge adjustment, or something feels different than last year. But honestly, swinging the bat, I feel like it all just comes down to getting my at-bats, and that’s something I’m lacking this year, just being hurt. The more at-bats I get, the more settled in I feel.”
When the Sox fly to St. Louis for this weekend’s series with the Cardinals, they’ll have just 16 games left in their schedule, not much time for settling in.
“I would just say I focus on my process every single day,” Teel said. “The results aren’t always going to come, but if I can refine my process and accomplish what I want every single at-bat, that’s all I can do. That’s all anyone can do, really.”
He noted that he needs to downgrade the goal of “accomplish what I want” to more granular goals, such as moving a runner over, swinging at the right pitch or making the opposing pitcher work — not just hitting an 112 mph home run every time.
But what’s clear even after three separate leg injuries in 2026 is that the Sox are prepared to be patient with Teel long-term — trusting that it’ll come.
“He’s a guy back there,” Venable said. “We plan on being there as our starting catcher.”