Chicago White Sox Rookie Kyle Teel Reaps Rewards Of Small Adjustment

CHICAGO –– White Sox rookie Kyle Teel timed up Arizona Diamondbacks pitchers early and often on Wednesday at Rate Field.

In his first at-bat in the first inning, he tied the game 2-2 with a line drive to center field. Teel stayed balanced against a low changeup from Arizona's Zac Gallen and shot it back up the middle. He connected with Gallen's fastball on the outer edge in his next at-bat, driving it to right field for his second single of the day.

Teel came close to his first major league home run in the sixth inning, but he'd have to settle for a ground-rule double. Facing Gallen for a third time, Teel drove a hanging changeup to the right center field gap. The ball left his bat with a 103.4 mph exit velocity, his highest of the day, though his first two hits were 92.9 mph and 95.7 mph, respectively.

That made for the first three-hit game of his major league career, finishing 3-for-4 with two singles, a double, two runs, one RBI and a ground out in the 7-3 win.

"Great day by Kyle. Used the whole field. Just quality at-bats," White Sox manager Will Venable said postgame. "We’re seeing with him just him figuring out this league a little bit, and maybe tapering down the big move and big leg kick and putting himself in a good spot to be on time. Saw the ball really well and had some great swings."

Teel's swings on Wednesday seemed perhaps a bit more compact than usual. He still uses a leg kick, but he's not trying to do too much at the plate.

"I think I’m just trying to simplify right now," Teel said. "Those little adjustments go a long way. Just churning out and putting the ball in play."

Teel's big day raised his slash line to .282/.408/.359 through his first 49 major league plate appearances. He's also totaled three doubles, two RBIs, eight walks and 15 strikeouts since being promoted from Triple-A on June 6.

Acquired in a four-prospect package in December as part of the Garrett Crochet trade with Boston, Teel is ranked No. 2 among White Sox prospects and No. 24 in the MLB Pipeline rankings. White Sox veteran outfielder Andrew Benintendi shared his thoughts on the 23-year-old catcher.

"He puts together really good at-bats," Benintendi said of Teel. "Obviously he'd been going through a little bit there, so it was good to see him get a few knocks, get rewarded. The guy can hit. I think that the longer he plays, the more he'll learn how other teams attack him. Just keep raking."