Inside The Red Sox

Red Sox Snag Steal Of Draft; Elite Catcher With Top-10 Ranking At No. 14

Boston added a player who should not have been on the board at their pick
Scott Neville|
Red Sox Snag Steal Of Draft; Elite Catcher With Top-10 Ranking At No. 14
Red Sox Snag Steal Of Draft; Elite Catcher With Top-10 Ranking At No. 14

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Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox made some magic happen to kick off the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft in Seattle on Sunday night.

Boston was able to snag Virginia catcher Kyle Teel with the No. 14 pick in the draft. Teel was the No. 7 player in the class according to MLB Pipeline and was widely regarded as a top-10 pick.

The Red Sox took advantage of an unexpected slide and were able to fill an organizational need with their top pick. It's rare that the best player available also fills a void, which is part of what makes this selection so special.

Teel hit .407 with 38 extra-base hits including 13 home runs, 69 RBIs and a 1.537 OPS in 65 games for the Virginia Cavaliers this season on his way to winning the ACC Player of the Year Award, Buster Posey National Catcher of the Year Award and becoming a consensus First-Team All-American. 

The 21-year-old also boasts a cannon of an arm and elite athleticism for a catcher. While Boston will want to keep him behind the plate as long as possible, Teel can play some outfield and even profiles well at second base.

Adding a college catcher into the mix of top prospects in the farm system works out perfectly, as a slew of elite talents should arrive in the big leagues at the same time. 

Teel will not be far behind top prospects Marcelo Mayer (shortstop), Nick Yorke (second base), Ceddanne Rafaela (outfield) and Blaze Jordan (corner infield) as the Red Sox attempt to develop their next core of position players.

The Red Sox boast a plethora of young studs in the upper levels of the minor leagues, and Teel could soon jump into the mix. If even half of them develop as planned, Boston should be perennial postseason contenders.

More MLB: Yankees Add Ex-Red Sox Slugger To MLB Roster To Replace Injured Outfielder

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Scott Neville
SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer.  His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu

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