Kyle Teel of the Virginia Cavaliers catches during warm ups before the eighth inning against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the ACC Baseball Championship at Durham Bulls Athletic Park on May 25, 2023 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
By Matthew Tallarini
World Baseball Network
The 14th overall pick in the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft, catcher Kyle Teel, was promoted to Double-A Portland on Monday.
Teel, 21, was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and signed with the Boston Red Sox on July 21 for a $4 million signing bonus contract.
Teel has played in 17 games during his first professional season between the complex level and High-A Greenville, hitting .383 with 75 plate appearances and 23 hits, four doubles, one home run, 11 RBI, and 13 walks including a .933 OPS.
Teel has caught in 13 games defensively, recording 122 putouts, 11 assists, and only two errors.
During his junior season at the University of Virginia, Teel helped the program reach their sixth College World Series. Teel played in 65 games batting .407 in 297 plate appearances recording 105 hits-good for fifth in the nation, 25 doubles, 13 home runs, 69 RBI, and 32 walks along with a 1.130 OPS. Teel during the 2023 season was voted the ACC Player of the Year and was selected to first-team All-ACC.
In 2022, he started all 58 games behind the dish and had six home runs, 45 RBI, and an OPS of .841. After 2022, he was selected to play on USA’s Collegiate National Team and also traveled with them to the Netherlands for the 2022 Honkbal Haarlem Week.
During his three collegiate seasons at the University of Virginia, Teel was a lifetime .343 hitter playing in 177 games with 812 plate appearances recording 236 hits, 48 doubles, four triples, 28 home runs, 155 RBI, 13 stolen bases, 97 walks, and 109 strikeouts along with a .979 OPS.
The Portland Sea Dogs are in third place of the Eastern League Northeast Division at 28-29 during the second half of the season and are six games behind the first place (34-23) Somerset Patriots.
Portland will take on the Reading Fightin’ Phils (26-31) on the road Tuesday night at 6:45 p.m. EDT in their first game of their six game road series. All minor league games will be streamed on MiLB.com with a paid subscription.