Having missed the first 76 games of the season due to back-to-back leg injuries, Kyle Teel’s response when asked how often he could catch for the White Sox now that he’s back should surprise no one.
“Seven days a week,’’ he said.
Teel strained his right hamstring in March while playing for Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic. While on a rehab assignment, he then sprained the lateral collateral ligament in his right knee when a cleat caught on a swing, a freakish injury. Just a half-dozen games before the season’s midway point, he’s back, with plastic spikes now the footwear of choice.
Teel, who was in Will Venable’s lineup batting fourth Monday night against Cleveland, said he doesn’t anticipate it will take him long to be brought up to speed.
“No, I feel like I’m fresh,’’ he said. “A lot of these guys have been playing for a long time, and you know I’m not fatigued at all. I’m fresh, I’m ready to go.’’
Teel’s return allows the Sox to upgrade a position that had become a black hole. To make room for Teel, the White Sox optioned Edgar Quero to Triple-A Charlotte. Quero was batting just .187 with three extra-base hits in 150 at-bats, a double and two home runs. The other Sox catcher, Drew Romo, is batting .144, though he has hit 5 home runs in just 90 at-bats. Defensively, the tandem was performing at a below-average level.
Remarkably, the White Sox posted a winning record (39-37) in the switch-hitting catcher’s absence. In his combined rehab assignments, Teel posted a .387/.441/.613 slash line. That includes a five-hit game he had for Charlotte last Friday night at Buffalo.
“Obviously, he’s somebody that makes a huge impact in the middle of our lineup,’’ said Venable, who has no intention of playing Teel seven days a week. “Excited not just to have him in the lineup, but on the field. His energy when he is playing is awesome.’’
The Cuban-born Quero is still just 23, so Venable hopes he “really unlocks the best version of himself” in Charlotte. Asked if the Sox thought about sending him to the team’s Arizona facility like they did successfully with Colson Montgomery last season, the manager said the team thought he would be better served making his adjustments in a game environment in Charlotte.
All-Star update
With Phase 1 of All-Star voting due to end at 11 a.m. Thursday, it would take ballot-box stuffing of epic proportions for any White Sox player to be elected an All-Star later.
There is one exception: Munetaka Murakami, the injured Japanese slugger who ranks third at first base, 141,707 votes behind Ben Rice of the Yankees. Toronto’s Vladi Guerrero Jr., whose reputation with voters clearly outweighs the mere four home runs he has hit this season, has drawn over 1.458 million votes. Rice is at 882,772, with Murakami at 741,065. The top two players at each position advance (six outfielders) to Phase 2, so there is an outside chance that a late push from local precincts, as well as by voters in his native Japan, could land Murakami a spot on the ballot.
It would likely be a Pyrrhic victory, even if it happens: Murakami has only an outside chance of returning before the July 14th All-Star game in Philadelphia. Still, an All-Star selection would look good on his resume, and on GM Chris Getz’s decision to sign him.
No other Sox player is within hailing distance of a berth. Miguel Vargas ranks third at third base, Colson Montgomery fifth at shortstop, and Chase Meidroth seventh at second. Outfielders Sam Antonacci (16th) and Tristan Peters (19th) also received votes.