ARLINGTON, Texas — The road to recovery is unfortunately a path Kyle Teel has become quite familiar with in 2026.
The Chicago White Sox catcher will begin that journey again after going on the 10-day injured list with a left ankle sprain.
“It’s very frustrating,” Teel said Tuesday afternoon at Globe Life Field. “It’s not how I anticipated this year to go. I put a lot of work in this offseason. I wanted it really bad.
“It’s very unfortunate, but I’m not going to sit around and feel bad for myself. I’m going to keep pushing every day and do everything I can to help this team win when I’m back.”
Teel and manager Will Venable described it as a high ankle sprain.
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“He’s still being evaluated,” Venable said. “There is a rough (timeline) range — it’s a pretty wide range — where we’re thinking six to 12 weeks, so it’s going to be some time. But I think with a range that big and Kyle being a young, strong man that he can go about his treatment and rehab and hopefully make it as quick as possible.
“As we continue to progress through this, we’ll be able to be more accurate with timelines. At the same time, it’s broad and wide because obviously we don’t know and there’s a lot of different directions that it can go.”
Teel suffered the injury in the second inning of Monday’s 10-3 victory against the Texas Rangers when trying to make a swipe tag on a play at the plate. He remained on the ground after the play and eventually had to be helped as he hobbled off the field.
“(I) twisted around to go get the ball and put a tag down, felt like I made contact with somebody and I didn’t,” Teel said. “Felt like I was hit in the ankle with something.
“I tried to get up. It just didn’t feel good. Kind of unfortunate. Twisted my ankle pretty good and they will let me heal now.”
It has been an injury-plagued 2026 for Teel, who began the season on the IL while recovering from a right hamstring strain suffered during the World Baseball Classic with Italy. He hit a bump on the road back from that injury in May, spraining the lateral collateral ligament in his right knee during an injury rehab assignment with Charlotte.
Teel made his season debut June 22. He is slashing .190/.271/.317 (12-for-63) with two doubles, two home runs, 14 RBIs and nine runs in 19 games.
“I felt like as I played, as I got more at-bats, I started to settle in,” Teel said. “I felt like I was improving every day. I felt like I was getting my feet under me and just getting started.
“But I’m going to do everything I can to get back as soon as possible. That’s the No. 1 thing for me right now. In the past, I feel like there are times where I take this game for granted. Now I’m grateful to be in the position I’m in to play this game every day, and this is a small bump in the road. I’m going to do everything I can to get back.”
In a corresponding move, the Sox recalled catcher Edgar Quero from Triple-A Charlotte. They had optioned Quero to Charlotte when Teel returned. He had a .230/.299/.295 slash line (14-for-61) with one double, one home run, six RBIs and five runs in 15 games with the Knights.
In 55 games with the Sox before being sent to Charlotte, Quero slashed .187/.253/.233 (28-for-150) with one double, two home runs, 15 RBIs and 12 runs.
“The reports from Edgar’s assignment at Triple A were that he did an outstanding job,” Venable said. “There’s a lot of things pregame that we wanted him to dial in on, things in the weight room and getting your body ready.
“It’s not that Edgar wasn’t doing any of those things. It was just certain areas that we wanted to clean up and ask him to focus on more game calling and the way he was interacting with some of the information. He did a great job with those things, so he’s in a good spot as far as that goes.”
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Quero and Drew Romo, who started Tuesday, are the catching options for the Sox. Tuesday’s lineup did not include shortstop Colson Montgomery, who exited Monday’s game with a bruised right shin after fouling off a pitch in the seventh.
“Just didn’t get to a spot where we thought we could put him in the lineup,” Venable said, adding the Sox are hopeful Montgomery will be back Wednesday.
As for Teel, the catcher plans to lean on lessons from his earlier injuries.
“It’s important to listen to your body,” he said. “That’s the No. 1 thing. Don’t try to rush anything. I don’t want to hold myself to a timeline where I’m not ready. It’s listening to your body, communicating to people you are working with about how you are doing.”
Sox sign Naperville native
The Sox signed Naperville Central alumnus Colin Barczi as an undrafted free agent out of Vanderbilt, the team announced Monday. The catcher had 11 home runs, 28 RBIs and a .917 OPS in 31 games during a 2026 season that was limited by a shoulder injury suffered on a slide. Barczi was projected as a third- to fifth-round pick before the injury.