The Road to The Show™: White Sox's Quero

Each week, MiLB.com profiles an elite prospect by chronicling the steps he's taken toward achieving his Major League dream. Here's a look at third-ranked White Sox prospect Edgar Quero. For more stories about players on The Road to The Show, click here.

The White Sox reloaded their prospect depth at the Trade Deadline, adding four of their top nine prospects, including third-ranked Edgar Quero.

The 21-year-old backstop spent the entire 2023 season in the Double-A Southern League, opening with Rocket City and finishing with Birmingham after he was traded from the Angels. Quero and left-hander Ky Bush landed with Chicago in a deal for Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López a week before the Trade Deadline.

Over 101 games in 2023, Quero finished with a .255/.380/.351 slash line and six homers while driving in 57 runs and scoring 52 times. Though he has traditionally shown more power from the left side, the switch-hitting backstop posted better numbers (.340 AVG, .897 OPS) against southpaws than he did in nearly three times as many plate appearances against righties.

MLB Pipeline’s No. 81 overall prospect is able to consistently find the barrel from both sides of the plate. He’s also shown an ability to drive the gaps and should develop some home run power as he gets stronger and a little more aggressive on pitches inside the zone.

Quero is extremely selective and does not chase much or expand the strike zone. His mature approach and plate discipline generates a lot of walks, and he even drew more free passes (55) than strikeouts (53) with Rocket City. Quero recorded 72 total walks while striking out 76 times and was one of only 41 Minor Leaguers with a walk rate north of 15.8 percent in at least 450 plate appearances.

His offensive tools are certainly louder than his skills behind the plate, but the 5-foot-11, 170-pound backstop still moves well laterally and is adept at blocking balls in the dirt. Quero is developing as a receiver and game-caller, and he controls the running game well with an accurate arm behind the plate. Over the past two seasons, he’s thrown out 24.1 percent of would-be base stealers.

“Catcher development can be a little quirky. There can be fits and starts. Sometimes the offense is ahead of the defense, or vice versa, and you’ve got to wait for those things to even out,” former White Sox general manager Rick Hahn, who was at the helm when the deal was made, told MLB.com after the trade. “Very optimistic about the development path for both [Quero and Bush] but not quite ready to put a timeline on them.”

The Cienfuegos, Cuba, native began playing at a high level from an early age and, in 2018, he was the starting catcher on Cuba’s U15 national team during the Baseball World Cup in Panama. Quero hit .400 and was named to the All-Tournament team. His success put an unfortunate target on his back and complicated the next steps of his career.

He was one of five players on that World Cup team that were “regulated” by Cuban authorities, meaning they had no legal right to leave the country. The issue was eventually resolved and he was able to take a flight with his family to Haiti in 2019. From Haiti, the family moved to the Dominican Republic and eventually Florida.

In February 2021, the Angels signed Quero as a free agent for a $200,000 bonus. He made his debut in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League at the end of June. Quero hit .253 with a .945 OPS, four homers, 24 RBIs in 29 ACL games and earned a promotion to Single-A Inland Empire for a 10-game stint in late August.

He returned to Inland Empire as a 19-year-old in 2022 and earned California League MVP honors. Quero led the circuit in slugging (.530), OPS (.965) and doubles (35), ranked second in on-base percentage (.435) and third in average (.313) while hitting 17 homers and driving in 75 runs over 111 games.

Quero also led the organization in doubles and runs (86) and had the highest OBP, SLG and OPS among all Angels prospects with at least 300 plate appearances.

The Angels were aggressive with Quero’s assignment in 2023. He bypassed High-A Tri-City and the notoriously pitcher-friendly Gesa Stadium and went straight to Rocket City. Quero was the third-youngest player in the Southern League on Opening Day.

Over 70 games with the Trash Pandas, Quero hit .246/.386/.332 with 13 doubles, three homers, 35 RBIs and 40 runs. He had the fifth-best OBP and the fifth-most walks in the circuit by the time he was dealt. Quero was also invited to play in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, where he went hitless in three at-bats.

Considering he didn’t have to change leagues, Quero debuted with Birmingham just two days after his last appearance with Rocket City. And he actually played against his old mates less than a week after the deal.

Quero remained a stingy at-bat after the trade, recording a .366 on-base percentage and a 12.7 percent walk rate in 31 games. He matched his Rocket City homer output and boosted his slugging percentage to .393 while driving in 22 runs and scoring 12 times.

There is little belief that Quero can win the starting catcher job right out of camp next spring – even as veteran Yasmani Grandal, the South Siders’ backstop since 2020, is likely to sign elsewhere in free agency.

The White Sox also landed Korey Lee from the Astros at last year’s deadline. Lee took over the everyday catching duties in Chicago at the end of August. As the roster currently stands, he also figures to be the club’s Opening Day catcher in 2024.

Although Quero probably won’t start the season in the Majors, he has a chance to follow a path blazed by former top catcher prospects Francisco Alvarez and Luis Campusano and debut in the Majors before his 22nd birthday.