With young core having a season under their belt, the White Sox feel they can 'shake some things up' this season

White Sox catcher Kyle Teel has been devouring any food in sight this offseason.

“I’m eating everything, dude,” Teel said at SoxFest Live. “Literally everything, it doesn’t matter what it is.”

Bulking up was a goal for Teel this offseason. He added 20 pounds of muscle over the offseason by constantly staying in the weight room and upping his calorie intake. That added strength will help Teel hold up over the 162-game season and unlock multiple areas of his game.

“I feel like [that added muscle] takes care of a lot of things that I’m working on — hitting the ball for power, especially,” Teel said. “ Defensively, I’ve just been working on my receiving, I know we have the ABS this year, but I still think that framing balls into strikes is going to be huge in this game.”

Teel, shortstop Colson Montgomery and second baseman Chase Meidroth are the foundation of this rebuild. The success of general manager Chris Getz’s effort will be judged on how well they develop in the majors. Whether it’s the new coaching hires or free-agent signings, everything Getz has done this offseason has been aimed at improving the organization's infrastructure to support its young players better.

From the outset of the offseason, Getz has said publicly that the best avenue for the team to improve would be due to the continued growth of their young players.

“I love the energy that we have,” starter Davis Martin said. “But all of us know at the end of the day that wins matter. You got to win baseball games. You got to go do your job. And so I think trying to blend that is going to be the early challenge for us and having all these expectations for the first time in probably two years.”

What plagued the previous rebuild was stunted development at the major-league level. On the hitting side, new hitting coach Derek Shomon is good at connecting with young players after his work with the Marlins. The organization also feels that the young players will benefit from the exposure they received at the major-league level last season.

Teel impressed at the plate during his rookie season, posting a .786 OPS with eight homers. But his work behind the plate could use improvement in his framing.

With a year under his belt, he said he learned the importance of “understanding who you’re catching.” Getting a better understanding of who he’s catching will pay dividends for his blocking or framing because he’ll understand where his pitchers are trying to locate.

Teel also confirmed Friday that he will be playing for Team Italy at the World Baseball Classic, so that he will miss the middle of spring training. It’s a great opportunity for Teel to learn from Team Italy coaches and former major-league catchers Jorge Posada and Francisco Cervelli.

The roster has taken notice of the investment Gez has made in the roster. As soon as news broke that Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami had signed with the Sox, Teel opened up YouTube and watched his new teammate. Meidroth, who spent the offseason in California, said he can't wait to meet Murakami at spring training.

Meidroth's steadiness was key for the Sox last season. He finished in the 80th percentile in outs above average and showed a mature approach at the plate with good bat-to-ball skills.

He dealt with hand injuries throughout most of the season but often played through it, batting .267/.324/.356 with a 93 wRC+ in the second half. There’s room for improvement against breaking balls, but Meidroth’s approach at the plate is mature for a player of his age. The team valued his positional versatility and grinder mentality to set the tone.

“We got a really good chance to shake some things up this year,” Meidroth said.

All of these moves are geared towards the Sox’ goal of taking a step forward next year. But the signings also indicate the front office's faith in the continued development of their young core, following strong debuts from Teel, Meidroth and Montgomery.

This spring training will be the first that the Sox have had legitimate expectations in years, coming off their second-half success and active free agency. The Sox know that they still have a lot of work to do to return to the top of the American League Central. Last year was a nice step forward, but there’s ample work to be done this season.