Lefty catcher Kyle Teel finished his 2025 debut season hitting .273/.375/.411 for the Chicago White Sox. While this is a fine stat line for his first season, digging further in suggests that he has more to provide to his team offensively. With a 13% walk rate, he showed an above average ability to control the zone. Is there a way that he can better leverage his above average zone control to get more favorable results?
Background: Big Picture Strengths and Weaknesses
Beyond zone control, Teel also features above average raw power and contact quality in terms of his ability to get the ball in the air and pull. His 21% pull air rate finished in the top 33% of players with at least 200 PA. He also hits fastballs well and finished the season with a .517 xSLG against.
In terms of weaknesses, Teel is not as successful against non-fastballs, especially breaking pitches.
| Pitch Type | xSLG | xwOBA | Whiff Rate |
| Fastballs | .517 | .410 | 24% |
| Breaking | .278 | .245 | 40% |
| Off-speed | .364 | .262 | 30% |
While this is not an uncommon weakness, his ability to control the zone gives me some faith that he can improve his results against breaking pitches.
How can he leverage his zone control to improve his results?
Since Teel hits fastballs so well, it would be great if he saw more fastballs. The tricky part is getting pitchers to throw him more fastballs, when they know he can’t hit breaking pitches very well.
But maybe there is a way for Teel to force pitchers to rethink their approach against him, and throw him more fastballs.
As mentioned before, Teel has an above average walk rate. He already is demonstrating that he has good enough swing decisions to not chase pitches out of zone (chase rate is 5% better than MLB average). So maybe he can be more selective in zone.
How can he change his in-zone approach?
What if Teel tried hunting pitches to a certain location in zone early in the count? He could try being more aggressive and swinging at pitches thrown middle or up. The reason for this is that pitches in this location are either:
- Fastballs
- Get-me-over breaking pitches
Hunting location should also be an easier adjustment for Teel given his above average swing decisions.
If he is able to be more aggressive early in the count to capitalize on pitches thrown to this location, he should improve his results against breaking pitches well enough to prevent pitchers from trying to take advantage and steal strikes early.
Does Teel Do Damage in this Location?
Looking at where Teel typically does damage, most of his extra base hits from 2025 were in the lower, inner quadrant of the zone:
Looking at his xSLG heat map, Teel is also able to put good swings on pitches in the middle and upper halves of the zone:
Graphic is from Baseball Savant
And more good news – he is already swinging there:
Graphic is from Baseball Savant
Therefore, this potential approach change is realistic and achievable. The goal of Teel hunting middle and upper half of the zone is not to prevent him from hitting where he does the most damage. It also will not magically lead him to having elite results against breaking pitches. Instead, the goal is to remove a section of the zone where pitchers were stealing early strikes. As a result, they will need to adjust their gameplan and hopefully provide Teel more opportunities to capitalize on fastballs.
Unfortunately, there is a wrinkle in this plan.
The Issue
Teel is a more patient hitter overall, but last season he was more aggressive first pitch compared to MLB average. This indicates that he is aware of the issue, and is already trying the approach recommended above (or a similar one related to ambushing early in the count). The issue is that he still cannot capitalize and get to his power. So he still needs to find a way to prove that he can be competitive against breaking pitches.
Digging further in, his biggest issues doing damage come when he is behind in the count:
| xSLG | Fastballs | Breaking | Offspeed |
| First Pitch | .911 | .702 | .423 |
| Teel Ahead | .571 | .422 | .429 |
| Teel Behind | .364 | .065 | .325 |
Of course, more hitters do worse when they are behind. However, Teel’s numbers against breaking pitches when behind are unplayable. In 2025, he had one hit and a 42% whiff rate on 114 breaking pitches seen when he was behind in the count.
Looking at this season, when Teel falls behind, it is imperative that he starts making it more difficult for pitchers. His approach should change to just getting contact, whether it is a hit or just a foul ball. He needs to force pitchers to throw another pitch and be more competitive.
Overall Recommendation
Based on everything mentioned above, the following game plan would be interesting to try:
- Early in the count (0-0 and 1-0): Teel can hunt any pitch to the middle or upper half of the zone.
- Ahead in the Count: He can continue the above approach and expand to pitches that are thrown low and in (in-zone).
- Behind in the Count: Focus on defensive contact against any pitch in-zone.
Additionally, Teel needs to find a way to start making more contact against breaking pitches in general. Until then, there is no reason why pitchers would stop throwing them to him at such a high rate and he will continue having trouble translating his raw power to games.