On Wednesday, the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox made a blockbuster trade. The White Sox sent Garrett Crochet to Boston, and in return, the Red Sox sent four prospects to Chicago.
Chicago received two former big college baseball stars, Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery, in this haul of minor leaguers.
Teel was a catcher for the Red Sox Triple-A affiliate, the Worcester Red Sox. Before getting drafted No. 14 overall in the 2023 MLB draft, he had an outstanding college career with the Virginia Cavaliers.
During his three seasons in Charlottesville, Teel had a career .343 batting average, .433 on-base percentage, and 155 RBI.
The Red Sox have drafted Virginia catcher Kyle Teel 14th overall! According to MLB Pipeline he's the 7th best overall prospect in the draft.
Love drafting good college bats!pic.twitter.com/Xxnvsq0x7m
— Thomas Carrieri (@Thomas_Carrieri) July 10, 2023
He was an All-American during his final season and finished as the all-time program leader in career grand slams. Teel was also the first Virginia player ever to win the Buster Posey Award for college baseball’s best catcher.
Montgomery was spending his early minor league career playing for Boston’s rookie affiliate, the FCL Red Sox. He was drafted 12th overall in the 2024 MLB draft.
Before transferring to Texas A&M for the 2024 college baseball season, Montgomery played for the Stanford Cardinal for two seasons. He finished as an All-Pac 12 player in 2023 and had 35 home runs during his two seasons in Palo Alto.
He was also Pac-12 freshman of the year in 2022. Stanford won two Pac-12 titles when Montgomery was on the team.
He continued to leave a significant impact on the college game while playing in College Station for the Aggies. He was an All-SEC player and named an All-American by Perfect Game.
On brand: Texas A&M outfielder Braden Montgomery is selected 12th overall by the Boston Red Sox.
His one season in College Station was legendary and featured a bunch of electric moments like this Grand Slam against Georgia in April.
🫡 @B_mont_ pic.twitter.com/NzHWsylp4t
— Ryan Brauninger (@R_Brauninger) July 15, 2024
In 2024, Montgomery batted .322 and had a .454 on-base percentage. He also nearly had a 30-home run season, finishing with 27.
Although an injury ended his season with the Aggies early in the NCAA Tournament, he played a big role in leading the team to Omaha for the College World Series. He also accomplished this in 2022 and 2023 while playing for Stanford.
Teel and Montgomery are both huge pickups for the White Sox despite giving up Crochet. Both players were top five prospects in Boston’s farm system.
