The White Sox have a lot of exciting prospects in camp this year. It seems Chris Getz could be eager to see what they can do, as there is nothing to lose. While it’s extremely unlikely that top catching prospect Edgar Quero breaks camp with the White Sox this year, there is a chance that we could see him at the end of the year at some point.
While a lot of things would have to happen to see him earlier than the end of the year, Quero could potentially force his way to the majors sooner, but if the catching play is not looking good in Chicago and Quero is playing better than he has before, it is not out of the realm of possibilities.
Quero is the one of the best catching prospects the White Sox have had in a long time and he has been performing well in the minors, playing considerably older competition while doing so. He is just 20 and will be 21 for a majority of the 2024 season.
Despite his younger age, he has performed well at every minor league level thus far, earning him top-100 prospect status.
In 2022 at low-A, he played fantastic. He hit .312 with a .435 OBP in 111 games. He added 17 home runs and 75 RBIs. He walked 73 times while striking out 91, a pretty good ratio for a 19-year-old. This impressive season would earn him the MVP of the league, which prompted the Angels to promote him to AA in 2023, skipping High-A.
At the Angels AA affiliate, he hit .246 with a .386 OBP in 70 games. The most impressive part of his game is the fact that he walked 55 times, while only striking out 53 times. This is absolutely insane for a 20-year-old in AA and it shows how he has a good feel for the zone. Most players on the White Sox don’t seem to have that ability now. In those 70 games, he added three home runs and 35 RBIs, which was a modest power output.
The elite walk-to-strikeout ratio is one of the reasons the Sox wanted Quero in the Giolito trade and he played even better after the trade. Once he got to Birmingham, he would hit .277 with a .366 OBP over 31 games. He would add three home runs and 22 RBIs to that total. He walked 17 times compared to 23 strikeouts. While the walks were a bit down from the Angels AA team, he increased his power, as he hit the same amount of home runs in 40 fewer games, a nice development for the White Sox.
Now, he looks to take over as catcher of the future. He doesn’t have much competition, as Maldy is on a one year deal and Korey Lee has yet to show he can hit at the major league level. While Quero has not gotten in much Spring Training action at this point, he had a walk off single in one of his few at-bats which is a great sign.
Look to Quero to take over the starting catching job as a 22 year old in 2025 if everything goes right.
