Nick Baumgardner

But other guys are eligible for this.

So I'm going to start the White Sox first, though.

OK.

My surprise star for the White Sox in 2026 is going to be catcher Kyle Teal.

I saw Kyle Teal get to the big leagues last year and showed an ability to have back-to-ball skills.

There was some power in there and an ability to get on base.

I see Kyle Teal as the type of guy that could hit 275, 280 for the White Sox.

20 doubles, 15 to 20 homers, and be a really productive player in that catcher slash DH spot split in time with Edgar Carroll.

I really like Kyle Seale as a player, and I'm interested to see how he's able to produce as a guy who probably won't be a full-time catcher because they'll have to split that time with him and Carroll.

And that might help him offensively because of that, not getting as worn down as if he had to catch 120, 130 games a season.

Is it bad that I don't think that's that big of a surprise considering not only that he had the second highest war on the team besides Colson Montgomery, obviously, but he kind of was that guy last year, although he only played 78 games.

But he hit eight home runs.

He went 273, 375, 411.

So maybe you're just expecting that slug to take a jump.

Yeah, I expect there to be more power in there.

But I also think some would say, oh, who's the breakout person?

Many would say, oh, Colson Montgomery, obviously.

But I think Kyle Teal, as a guy who's going to hit towards the top of that lineup, get on base at a really high clip, you're going to see a lot out of him.

So that's why he's my...

surprise and i'll those were me explaining the surprises i expect to see i got you so the white socks looking good if cal till is a surprise and does better things than he did in his rookie season that's going to be a big plus yeah for the white socks lineup again i love that young group meanwhile for the cubs who's now i'm really intrigued on this because it's hard for me to even imagine because and i think here's the difference with the cubs you have more known commodities on the cubs