Craig Breslow’s Comments Indicate 2025 Plan For Top Red Sox Prospect

Like several of the other Boston Red Sox top prospects, Kyle Teel is on the precipice of making it to the big leagues.

The 22-year-old catcher might be in that position for a while, though.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow touched upon Boston’s catching plans Monday at the GM Meetings in San Antonio and he gave the sense that the organization will take a patient approach before calling up Teel.

“We’ll certainly explore opportunities to get better,” Breslow said, per MassLive’s Christopher Smith. “That includes potentially in kind of a backup role to Connor (Wong) or however things shake out.”

Breslow could do this offseason what he did at the trade deadline and add a defensive-minded veteran to fill that backup catcher’s role instead of it going to Teel. Breslow in late July traded for Danny Jansen, who opted for free agency but could end up back with Boston.

The Red Sox are still very high on Teel, as they should be. The No. 14 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft excelled with Double-A Portland last season, hitting .298 with 11 home runs and 60 RBIs before earning a promotion alongside Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer to Triple-A Worcester.

Teel showed well with Worcester, too, batting .255 with two homers and 18 RBIs in 28 games. He’s currently ranked as the No. 25 prospect in all of baseball by MLB Pipeline, which trails Anthony (No. 3), Mayer (No. 7) and rising infielder Kristian Campbell (No. 10), who could compete for the starting second base job in spring training.

There’s no doubt Teel is Boston’s catcher of the future, but he just might have to wait a little bit longer before that happens.

“Certainly feel excited about the progress Kyle has made,” Breslow said. “But I think the focus for him is to continue to develop. We saw a lot of success with some framing later on in the season. He obviously was good offensively for the season. And I just don’t think it’s fair to kind of like pencil him in or put timelines on him. What’s most important for him is to continue to develop.”