White Sox have an embarrassment of riches that would make every MLB team jealous

Every team across Major League Baseball is looking to be "strong up the middle." Players at premium positions just tend to have more value.

You want an elite center fielder, an elite shortstop, and an elite catcher. Only a few teams can be so lucky as to have them all.

Catcher is one position in particular that has plagued the Chicago White Sox for many years now. A.J. Pierzynski was a reliable presence behind the plate for eight seasons, but Chicago’s attempts to replace A.J. have been fruitless and almost never gone to plan.

The White Sox have needed a quality catcher for years

Tyler Flowers had a ton of pop, and was awesome defensively, but he never made contact consistently enough to be even an average starting catcher.

The White Sox dished out an uncharacteristic $73 million to Yasmani Grandal before the 2020 season with hopes that he would be a catalyst for the club like Pierzynski was for the 2005 team.

Grandal’s first two seasons in Chicago were fantastic, but he was borderline unplayable in 2022 and 2023. Injuries got the best of him, and some believe he was a problem in the clubhouse.

We may never know the full story, but many people consider Yasmani Grandal to be the worst free agent signing in White Sox franchise history.

An elite, well rounded catcher is so important. It’s not a coincidence that the arguable top five catchers in baseball - Will Smith, J.T. Realmuto, Cal Raleigh, William Contreras, and Alejandro Kirk - are all on contending teams.

Fortunately for the Chicago White Sox, as they look to take the next step towards contention, they have the catcher position figured out.

Edgar Quero and Kyle Teel are the future of White Sox baseball

The White Sox have an embarrassment of riches, with two catchers that both look to be well above average with future All-Star potential.

Edgar Quero and Kyle Teel are a tandem that would make any team jealous.

It was a bit curious when the White Sox acquired Kyle Teel as one of the headlining pieces of the Garrett Crochet trade. As good as Teel was, the White Sox had already had a top 100 prospect that was a catcher in Edgar Quero.

Quero was traded to the White Sox by the Angels for Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez back in 2023.

Did the White Sox really need two catchers? How were they both going to play at the same time?

As the 2025 season has unfolded, the vision is becoming more and more clear. Quero and Teel have been on an offensive tear since the All-Star break and are regularly getting playing time in the same lineup.

In 23 games since the All-Star break, Teel is hitting .304 with four (4) home runs and an .859 OPS. Edgar Quero has played in 20 games in the second half. He's got a .301 batting average with an OPS of .821.

Quero is also the MLB leader in pickoffs by catchers this season. Five (5) on the year tied a White Sox franchise record.

It’s incredibly refreshing to realize that the White Sox won’t need to worry about finding a backstop for this iteration of the rebuild.

It provides a solid foundation for the White Sox to be “strong up the middle,” and if Colson Montgomery and Billy Carlson are as legit as the White Sox hope, the team is already set up better than they were last time around.

On offense, defense, and in the clubhouse, Teel and Quero seem to set the tone for the rest of the White Sox. That stability should lead to a lot of wins in the near future.