Most baseball fans are surely aware that not a lot is going right for the White Sox. They are currently 3-22, the worst record in baseball. But there are some hopeful signs with at least one player on the roster: catcher Korey Lee.
Now 25 years old, Lee was a first-round pick of the Astros, selected 32nd overall in 2019. As he climbed up the minor league ladder, he earned a reputation as a glove-first catcher. In terms of his offense, he clearly had some power but the production was fairly hollow apart from that.
In 2022, he played in 104 Triple-A games and hit 25 home runs. However, he also struck out 28.5% of the time and only walked at an 8.1% clip. Since he was playing for the Sugar Land Space Cowboys in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, his .238/.307/.483 batting line only translated to a wRC+ of 90.
That production was 10% below league average overall but is around par for a catcher. He also got to make his major league debut that year but clearly did not get out to a roaring start in the big leagues. His first 26 plate appearances led to a batting line of .160/.192/.240.
He was sent back to Sugar Land in 2023 and took a step back. He got into 68 games for the Space Cowboys and hit just five home runs. He lowered his strikeout rate to 24.8% but his walk rate also ticked down to 5.6%. His .283/.328/.406 line led to a wRC+ of 77.
In spite of the tepid offense, the Sox decided to take a shot on him. When trading Kendall Graveman at last year’s deadline, they flipped him to the Astros for Lee straight up. His bat did not improve in the immediate aftermath of that deal. He hit .255/.309/.275 in Triple-A, striking out 40% of the time, and then .077/.143/.138 in the majors.
Coming into 2024, Lee still had an option remaining and the Sox clearly intended to use it. They grabbed a couple of more experienced catchers in Martín Maldonado and Max Stassi and were seemingly going to break camp with that pair, as Lee was optioned on March 20. But then Stassi required an Opening Day stint on the injured list due to hip inflammation, so Lee was recalled.
So far, the results have been good at the major league level. We’re talking about 46 plate appearances over 17 games, so small sample size caveats definitely apply, but Lee is slashing .279/.326/.465 for a wRC+ of 129. His 6.5% walk rate is a bit below average but he’s also only striking out a 19.6% clip so far.
Looking under the hood also shows some encouraging signs. Lee has a barrel rate of 9.7% thus far, almost triple the 3.3% rate he had over 2022 and 2023. His expected batting average, on-base and slug are all up.
Perhaps the most encouraging development is in the plate discipline department. He had previously swung at 36.9% of pitchers outsize the zone but has dropped that number to 29.1% this year. Even when he does chase, he’s missing less, as his 69.6% contract rate outsize the zone is a big jump from his previous rate of 51.3%.
On pitches in the zone, he’s up to an 86.8% swing rate compared to 78% in his previous seasons. His called strike rate was 11.6% coming into the year but is down to 8.2% this season. He had a 15.8% swinging strike rate in the majors in the previous two years, and even higher in Triple-A, but is at 13.6% so far this year.
This is obvious baseball stuff, but swinging at more pitches in the zone and chasing less, while also whiffing less often, is going to lead to fewer strikeouts. Again, it’s a very small sample size but it’s progress in the area that has been Lee’s biggest weakness.
Scouting reports on Lee have long highlighted that he has a cannon for an arm and is a strong blocker. Perhaps there’s still some room to grow in terms of framing but the overall defensive package is considered to be above average. At the plate, the power has been there but the strikeouts were a concern. Whether he can continue to show the positive signs from the early weeks of this season will be something for the Sox to monitor.
In the short term, it’s possible the Sox may have a difficult decision to make. Stassi started a rehab assignment early in the year but was injured again after a backswing hit his hand, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. He hasn’t yet resumed his rehab assignment but will presumably be ready to rejoin the team at some point.
Perhaps they would consider optioning Lee to the minors when Stassi is back, but cutting Maldonado should also be on the table. He has a strong reputation in the league for his work with pitchers but he’s approaching his 38th birthday and is awful at the plate. He hit .183/.260/.333 for the Astros over the past three seasons and is down to a line of .048/.091/.071 so far this year.
Even if they value Maldonado’s intangibles enough to overlook that offense, moving on from Stassi could also be a consideration. He was acquired from Atlanta in the offseason with that club paying Stassi’s salary down to the league minimum, meaning the Sox aren’t financially committed to Stassi in any way.
In the long term, it will be quite nice for the Sox is Lee can hang onto this improved plate discipline. He came into this year with just 71 days of service time. Assuming he stays with the big league club for the rest of the year, the Sox will still be able for five more seasons after this one.
He seems destined to be joined on the roster by Edgar Quero at some point. Acquired from the Angels in the trade that sent Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López to the Angels, Quero is effectively the inverse to Lee, as he is considered to be more of a bat-first catcher.
In 1,190 minor league plate appearances thus far in his career, Quero has drawn walks in 15% of them while only striking out at an 18.8% clip. He’s also hit 33 home runs and slashed .280/.407/.458. At Double-A this year, he already has five home runs and has a line of .294/.387/.627 for a 197 wRC+. Since he spent all of last year in Double-A as well, a promotion to Triple-A should be imminent. He’s currently ranked the #58 prospect in the whole league by FanGraphs while Keith Law of The Athletic recently gave him the #67 spot.
The glove-first Lee and the bat-first Quero should make for a nice pairing behind the plate for the Sox if all goes according to plan. Lee hits from the right side while Quero is a switch hitter. The inverse profiles should allow the club to deploy them situationally, depending on whether offense or defense is preferred on a given day or a given situation. Almost no club has an everyday catcher these days, so the Sox could split the playing time, with the designated hitter slot also giving them a way to have both in the lineup with regularity. If one of these two backstops takes a step forward and is ahead of the other, the team could tip the scales of the playing time accordingly.
For fans of the Sox, there’s not a lot to feel good about in the present. That means looking to the future is the best bet at finding hope or even just a reason to follow the team. When it comes to the catching depth, there seems to be a bit of sunshine peeking out over the horizon.
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