It will be quite some time before Kyle Teel makes his season debut. The White Sox second-year catcher sprained the lateral collateral ligament (LCL) in his right knee, relays Brooke Fletcher of Chicago Sports Network. He’ll be down for 3-6 weeks before he’s able to start a new rehab assignment.
Teel suffered the injury on Saturday in a rehab game with Triple-A Charlotte. Manager Will Venable told reporters (including James Fegan of Sox Machine) that the lefty batter got hurt when his cleat got stuck during a swing. He was working his way back after sustaining a Grade 2 strain of his right hamstring while playing for Italy in the World Baseball Classic.
It’s a frustrating setback for a surprisingly competitive Sox team. Chicago enters their series in Seattle with a 24-22 record that has them in a Wild Card spot and only a game behind Cleveland in the AL Central. A playoff berth still seems like a long shot given the Sox’s rebuilding pitching staff, but they’re a more live threat than most would’ve anticipated at the beginning of the season.
The offense has been a big part of that. Chicago is tenth in scoring and ranks in the top half of the league in both on-base percentage and slugging. Only the Yankees have hit more home runs than the Sox’s 66 longballs. Teel would likely have slotted into the top half of the lineup after a .273/.375/.411 showing over his first 78 MLB games.
Chicago has instead rolled with a Drew Romo/Edgar Quero pairing behind the plate. Romo, who entered the season with essentially no MLB track record, has connected on four homers in 13 games since being called up to supplant Reese McGuire as the backup catcher. Quero has had a very tough year, yesterday’s walk-off homer against the Cubs notwithstanding.
The Sox could transfer Teel to the 60-day injured list if they need to open a spot on the 40-man roster at some point. That’ll backdate to Opening Day and would be a formality, as he’s unlikely to be ready for MLB action until late June at the earliest. Quero and Romo are the only healthy catchers on the 40-man.
