White Sox Draft: 3 catchers to consider selecting in 2023

The Chicago White Sox are a team that needs a few parts in the right places to make things work. They were supposed to have undergone a rebuild and made themselves contenders.

While this appeared to have only been a two-year deal, the White Sox now find themselves in a state between mediocre and bad and it doesn’t appear as if they are going to make right any time soon.

What does all of this have to do with the White Sox and the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft? Plenty. If the White Sox are going to get any better, they must find talent to build their team around.

Right now, their talent isn’t as great as they would like it to be so they need to bring in some new talent via the draft and develop it for the future.

The Chicago White Sox have a lot of needs heading into the 2023 draft.

One of the positions that they need to consider beefing up is their catcher position. I think that I have written about getting help at this position for the last two years and the White Sox still need to build up their talent at catcher.

They need to get some quality catchers, at least two or three at a time, in case they need someone to come up from the minors to catch which happens often.

Looking at the top two catchers on the team right now, Yasmani Grandal and Seby Zavala are the two guys that we are used to seeing. Anyone that has watched Grandal play this year knows that he has lost a step or two and just seems slow.

It’s kind of scary watching him run the bases because of how slow he is. And he’s not very durable, missing time every now and then. He’s up there in age (34 years old) and he’s a catcher so he gets beat up a lot sitting behind the plate.

Zavala has shown flashes of brilliance, mostly last season, and is a competent catcher. His ability to hit the ball efficiently and effectively has been called into question at times but his catching ability is okay.

He’s a younger guy so he will be around for a while but the White Sox won’t be able to rely upon him to be their primary catcher. He’s good behind the plate, to an extent, but isn’t great at the plate batting.

The White Sox have a couple of other guys in the hopper ready to step forward if needed but getting some help to develop at catcher would be a good idea for the White Sox.

There are three players that the White Sox might be interested in filling their catcher spot in the future. These guys may not be around after the first or second round of the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft but the White Sox must take a good look at them and show some interest.

Or they could just decide that the need for a catcher is so great they could pick one in the first or second round (I think that they will go with a pitcher in the first round personally, but you never know).

When looking at the catcher prospects there is one that stands out as the best catcher prospect in the 2023 MLB Draft. That person is Virginia’s, Kyle Teel.

Teel appears to be one of the most athletic catchers to come into the MLB Draft in a while. He’s a good hitter and can run well on the base paths.

Teel does well behind the plate and doesn’t let too many wild pitches and passed balls get by him. With a little bit of growth and development, he could become the complete package at catcher for the White Sox.

Another interesting prospect that might go high in the Draft is Michael Carico. Carico might not appear to be a top-catching prospect to some but he’s one of the top guys in this year's Draft and should be taken early.

The biggest knock on Carico is that he has suffered a broken wrist which can complicate things for catchers. Hopes are that he will be fully healthy soon and be ready to start his way to the Majors in the Minors.

He is a pillar of athleticism, does well catching the ball and his batting is strong. He recognizes pitches well and is going to be a top-tier catcher someday.

The White Sox may want to grab him and develop him for the future which, in Carico’s case, should be bright.

Finally, there is one last catcher that some consider to be the second best of the bunch but others have their doubts. Blake Mitchell out of Sinton, Texas had a fantastic high school career and even pitched a little bit.

He has power in his bat and is a left-handed batter which can help some. He’s got one of the stronger arms you will see in a catcher in this class and is a prime-time athlete. He could be just what the White Sox needs for the future and could be an all-star in the making.

Everyone is looking for the next Adley Rutschman after seeing what he’s been capable of doing with the Baltimore Orioles. The White Sox would love to have that kind of guy and any one of the three of the aforementioned players could end up being an all-star, especially Mitchell.

The White Sox will need a star catcher in the future and the time to develop one is now. That’s why it’s important that they get one in this year’s draft.