Kyle Teel Makes MLB Debut with White Sox

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Former Virginia baseball player Kyle Teel (2021-23) made his Major League debut on Friday (June 6) for the Chicago White Sox. The catcher went 1-for-2 with a pair of walks and scored once in the 7-2 White Sox victory.

Teel is the No. 26 overall prospect in all of Major League Baseball, according to MLB.com and has spent the entire 2025 season with the Charlotte Knights, the White Sox’s Triple-A affiliate. In 50 games with the Knights, Teel is hitting .295 (54-for-183) with 10 doubles, eight home runs and 30 RBIs.

With the addition of Teel, a total of 58 former Cavaliers have played in an MLB game.

Teel was selected 14th overall by the Boston Red Sox in the first round of the 2023 MLB Draft before being traded to the White Sox this past December. The catcher was the 15th Cavalier in program history to be drafted in the first round.

During his three seasons in Charlottesville, Teel boasted a .343 career average, the 10th-highest in program history. His 28 career home runs are the eighth most of any Cavalier. He ranks ninth in total bases (376) and 10th all-time in runs scored (170).

Teel is the most decorated catcher to ever come out of the Virginia baseball program. A breakout junior campaign in 2023 helped the Mahwah, N.J. native earn the Buster Posey Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award, the first player in UVA history to collect the sport’s top catching honor. At the conclusion of the regular season, he was voted by the ACC coaches as the ACC Player of the Year, the first Cavalier to claim the award since 2006 (Sean Doolittle). Teel was a consensus First Team All-American, the first Cavalier to be listed on the first team by six different publications.

During the 2023 campaign, Teel batted .407 on the year, the sixth-highest single-season average in UVA history, the second-highest in the ACC and the 14th-best in college baseball this season. His average did not dip below .400 the entire year and he is only the third Virginia player since 1985 to bat over .400. He racked up 105 hits, 25 doubles, 13 home runs and 69 RBI over the course of 65 games in 2023.

Behind the plate he started all 65 games at catcher, playing all but 23 innings. Teel threw out 15 runners attempting steal and helped manage a Cavalier pitching staff that sported the fourth-lowest ERA in college baseball.