the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Mahwah NJ, University of Virginia junior Kyle Teel and former Mahwah High School star was selected by the Boston Red Sox with the No. 14 overall pick of Major League Baseball’s First-Year Player Draft.
As a four-year starter at Mahwah, Teel was named Gatorade New Jersey High School Player of the Year in 2020. In his final season at Mahwah, his junior year, he batted .574 with eight home runs and 31 RBIs. He was rated as New Jersey’s top prospect in the class of 2020 by multiple organizations.
Teel opted out of the 2020 Draft that April after the high school and NCAA seasons were canceled due to the COVID pandemic. At the time, Teel was a senior at Mahwah and projected to be picked in the top three rounds.
The Bergen County native is the first North Jersey player to be selected in the first round since Rob Kaminsky of St. Joseph (Montvale) was chosen 28th overall by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2013. Teel is the fifth Bergen County player to be selected in the first round, joining Pat Picillo (Rutherford, 1984), Doug Glanville (Teaneck, 1991), Ron Villone (Bergenfield, 1992) and Kaminsky. Teel is the Garden State’s highest draft pick since pitcher Jason Groome of Barnegat High School went 12th overall to the Boston Red Sox in 2016.
Three years later, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound Teel is fresh off one of the greatest individual seasons in Virginia baseball history. As a left-handed hitting catcher, he hit 13 home runs and batted batted .407, the sixth-highest batting average ever for a Virginia hitter. He racked up a school-record 25 doubles and drove in 69 runs all while starting each of Virginia’s 65 games behind the plate.
Scouting Report: No. 14 Red Sox: Kyle Teel, C, Virginia — Teel is a high-caliber athlete with a good arm who projects to stay behind the plate. He successfully course-corrected after a brief but tough cameo in last summer’s Cape Cod League, and profiles as a contact-over-power hitter at the game’s highest level. He easily could’ve been selected in the top 10, making this a good value for the Red Sox. Grade: A
Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco said in a Facebook post ” Congrats to Mahwah native Kyle Teel for being drafted 14th in the MLB draft! We wish you could’ve stayed here with us in the NY area…but the Red Sox got a good one! Best of luck, Kyle! Make Bergen County proud!”
Congrats!