Teel’s return to the lineup has given the Chicago White Sox more than just a boost offensively; his presence behind the plate has also become a major asset for the pitching staff.
Entering the postseason, the White Sox had the worst success rate in baseball on ABS challenges, with their pitchers and catchers correctly overturning just 49.3% of their challenges — the only team in MLB below the 50% mark.
For the most part, Teel was not the culprit. Although hamstring and ankle injuries limited him to just 39 games, rust did not appear to be an issue behind the plate when it came to knowing the strike zone. Teel successfully overturned 35 of his 65 challenges, giving him a 54% success rate.
That success has only been amplified in the postseason. Teel has successfully overturned seven of his eight challenges, the most of any catcher this postseason, while his 88% success rate ranks among the best in the playoffs.
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In fact, Teel hasn’t just been good at overturning calls; he has been aggressive about taking advantage of opportunities to steal a strike. So far this postseason, he has had 13 opportunities to challenge a borderline pitch that Baseball Savant deems a “reasonable challenge”. He has only failed to pull the trigger on five of those pitches. However, not every missed opportunity can be attributed to hesitation, as the game situation and number of challenges remaining also factor into several of those decisions.
Teel’s decision-making behind the plate has been especially valuable for a team relying on an unorthodox strategy to navigate the postseason. With starting rotation depth running thin, Will Venable has leaned heavily on openers and bullpen games, making the White Sox the first team in MLB history to have its starting pitcher work four innings or fewer in each of its first four postseason games.
With so many different arms taking the mound, Teel’s ability to steal strikes has become an even more important part of navigating each game.
The impact of Teel’s decision-making was evident throughout the Wild Card Series. In Game 1 against the Houston Astros, he successfully overturned a first-pitch ball to Isaac Paredes in the eighth inning, immediately putting Grant Taylor ahead in the count. One pitch later, Taylor was ahead 0-2, forcing Paredes into a defensive approach. He chased a slider in the dirt for strike three, a sequence that lowered Houston’s win probability by 4.7%.
Teel made his presence felt again in Game 2. In the second inning, he successfully challenged a first-pitch ball to Christian Walker, giving Sean Burke an 0-1 count. Walker ultimately struck out to end the at-bat. An inning later, Teel did it again against MVP front-runner Yordan Alvarez, turning another first-pitch ball into a strike. Alvarez, too, eventually went down swinging against Burke.
But perhaps Teel’s biggest challenge came in Game 1 of the ALDS. With the White Sox leading 3-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Taylor was trying to record the final eight outs of the game. Facing Steven Kwan with a runner on first, Taylor appeared to paint the bottom of the strike zone with his third pitch of the at-bat. The pitch was called a ball, making it a 2-1 count against one of MLB’s toughest hitters to strike out.
Teel tapped his head, challenged the call and flipped the ball into a strike, immediately putting Kwan into a defensive count. Taylor followed with a curveball in nearly the same spot, and Kwan rolled over it for an inning-ending double play — a sequence that lowered Cleveland’s win probability by 6%.
Add in his four hits and team-high three runs scored this postseason, and Teel has a strong case as one of the unsung heroes of the White Sox early-October resurgence.
