WORCESTER – Kyle Teel’s first night in Triple-A got off to a stressful start.
Not because the catcher was unprepared, but rather because he’d spent so much time trying to prepare.
“Funny story: first pitch of the game, my first game with the WooSox, my headset died right before the first pitch because I was messing with it all day, trying to learn it,” the catcher told the Herald. “As soon as I get back there and the umpire says ‘Play ball,’ I touch the pitch and I’m not hearing anything.
“I see the clock winding down, and it’s at like, four seconds. I’m about to call time, because this isn’t working. And I look up, and the pitcher is at his release and the ball’s about to come at me. So, that was the first pitch I received in Triple-A.”
Rather than stop the inning to get a new headset, Teel opted to play through it.
“The whole inning, I was calling the pitches, hoping I was clicking the right buttons, and just kind of winging it,” he said.
‘Winging it’ isn’t typically Teel’s style. Though the top Red Sox catching prospect has a reputation as someone who “plays with his hair on fire” (teammate Roman Anthony) and is “so into the game … he looks like a can of Red Bull,” (Cape league manager Steve Englert), he’s fastidious and studious about his craft.
Ironically, during Teel’s first week in Triple-A earlier this month, manager Chad Tracy praised him for learning the PitchCom so quickly. The coaching staff had anticipated a learning curve, but Tracy said Teel was practically perfect on the device in his WooSox debut.
“I think I made one or two mistakes,” Teel said. “But it’s really easy once you learn it, but you do have to learn a lot of buttons and where everything is. After a day or two, it was like second nature.”
“Teel’s done well behind the plate,” Tracy said. “He’s learned our staff quickly.”
Adjusting behind the plate was easier than at the plate – he entered Wednesday hitting .119 with a .367 OPS over his first 11 Triple-A games – but Teel’s offensive production is on the rise. He drove in three runs on Tuesday, and by the fifth inning on Wednesday, he’d already collected a hit, scored a run, and driven in another.
His manager described the improved at-bats as “a discernible difference.”
“Early, he was swinging early and getting out and around the ball and hooking a lot of ground balls. Now the ball is getting in the air. The bat path’s improving, the quality of the at-bat’s improving,” said Tracy. “I really feel like Kyle now, like right now, is like fully settled in.”
Teel said he’s finding his swing by trusting his routine, rather than deviating in desperation.
“I think that just really focusing on the process and what I want to do every time I go up there has been a key to having success,” Teel said. “The results are important, but at the same time, just having the right process, in order to get the result you want.”
Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas, known for his unique and unorthodox routines and methods – including barefoot grounding and shirtless sunbathing on the field before games – was helpful in that regard.
“Last time he was here, we had a good conversation. We always talk about this kind of stuff: you can’t really control the result, but you can control the process,” Teel said. “And at the end of the day, you want to control what you can, and what you can’t control, you just got to leave it to whatever happens, happens.”
Teel has been playing professionally for just under 13 months. After being selected by the Red Sox 14th overall in last summer’s draft, the most decorated catcher in UVA program history made his pro debut on Aug. 3. After three games at rookie-level, he skipped Low-A altogether, played 14 games at High-A, and was promoted again, to Double-A Portland.
Next week marks the one-year anniversary of the Portland promotion, and MLB Pipeline lists 2025 as his estimated time of arrival in the Majors. If he, indeed, debuts next season, Teel be one of the fastest risers in recent Red Sox history.
“It’s definitely gone by fast, I feel like it’s gone by really fast,” Teel said. “It’s just wild to think about how last year I was still in college, playing for University of Virginia, and now I’m here, a step away from the big leagues. It all went by so fast, and I’m just enjoying it and I’m trying to soak it in.”
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