Greenberg: Team Italy standouts Kyle Teel, Sam Antonacci inspire hope for White Sox

Team USA really thought it was unbeatable, didn’t it? An American colossus bent on dominating the world (in baseball). Over and over, we heard about this super-team full of selfless warrior poets bursting with American exceptionalism and crying patriotic tears.

And all of that was basically true, until they faced two members of America’s real team: the Chicago White Sox.

On Tuesday night, as the NFL world reeled with the Maxx Crosby news and the NBA was starry-eyed at Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game, the rest of us were watching Team Italy embarrass the good ol’ US of A with an 8-6 win in the World Baseball Classic.

Sure, we can pin the blame on manager Mark DeRosa and wonder if he’s a fifth columnist on the top step of the dugout, but really, give the credit to this team of mostly Italian-Americans, including several big leaguers, who just stuck it to their American-American brethren and shocked the WBC.

And wouldn’t you know it, two young White Sox hitters led the charge. Salute the Olde English Sox logo flag, everyone.

On Tuesday night, Kyle Teel and Sam Antonacci each homered off starting pitcher Nolan McLean and drove in all three runs with two outs in the second inning as Italy took a lead it would never relinquish. Teel would later walk in the fourth and score on Jac Caglianone’s homer, and Antonacci would impress broadcaster John Smoltz with his baseball IQ.

Needless to say, White Sox general manager Chris Getz wasn’t rooting for the good ol’ US of A.

“Once Teel and Antonacci hit their homers, I wanted them to get the attention they deserve, and the best way to do that was with an Italy win,” he texted Wednesday morning from spring training.

Getz also confirmed he “jumped off of my couch” in that inning, but he might’ve buried his face in it in the sixth when Teel doubled and pulled up lame heading into second base. He left the game with a hamstring injury, and it was announced on Wednesday that he’ll be out 4-6 weeks. Like all of his peers, Getz is watching these games — his No. 1 offseason addition Munetaka Murakami is hitting dingers for Samurai Japan — with a mix of pride and apprehension.

“Spiking adrenaline in mid-March is counterintuitive to what we know is best for player health,” Getz texted. “You just hope careers aren’t dramatically altered in this, and in Teel’s case, he’ll be fine, yet in reality, if he were in spring training, he would’ve been out of the game after his homer and walk.”

A video reposted by Jomboy Media showed a smiling Teel walking into the clubhouse after the win, followed by Vinnie Pasquantino yelling about the location of the offing post-victory wine, so there’s reason to be optimistic.

And if there’s one place the Sox have depth right now, it’s catcher. Edgar Quero and Teel will split time evenly behind the plate this season, and manager Will Venable still has Korey Lee, who is no slouch.

While the focus was on the U.S.’s failure and especially DeRosa thinking the team had already clinched, the big hits by Teel and Antonacci were further proof that maybe the Sox really are heading in the right direction after a shameful three-year span that saw them descend from rising contender to baseball’s laughingstock.

“I’ve been getting messages the last week from the Italy staff about how much they love Teel and Antonacci because of how fearless they are,” Getz texted. “And that assessment is why we love these two.”

With all of these young players in the fold, there is hope on the South Side once again.

After a record-setting 121-loss season in 2024, last year’s 60-102 campaign was almost respectable. Young players like Teel (125 wRC+ in 78 games) got a chance to play and showed real promise when they got up. And despite all the promotions last year, the farm system is budding. Antonacci, a fifth-round pick in 2024, was ranked as the team’s 10th-best prospect by The Athletic’s Keith Law last month.

A high-contact hitter, Antonacci’s been turning heads with his play in spring training this year.

“He’s been turning heads since we signed him,” Getz texted. “Now he has gotten stronger, so the exit velos are higher. If we have interest in acquiring a player from another team, the first player they always ask for is Sam. He’s a top prospect and has been. For some reason, public rankings haven’t caught up, but projection systems (including ours) have him in our top tier of prospects.”

Antonacci made it to Double-A last season, and the 23-year-old utility guy could be on the South Side before you know it. You can bet he’d be a fan favorite on name alone among the team’s Italian-American fanbase. And if he can really hit, even better.

Fabulous Freddies on 31st Street still has a burger named after Yermín Mercedes. How long until Ricobene’s renames its Chicken Vesuvio sandwich after Antonacci?

While I know how Getz and the rabid Sox fans on X were feeling Tuesday night, I sure wish I had the phone number for the most famous Sox fan in Italy to gauge his reaction.

I can imagine Pope Leo boring all of his cardinals by reciting Antonacci’s minor-league stats and making them rewatch the game while he eats a few slices of reheated Aurelio’s pizza. Perhaps, in between bites, the Holy See can say a few Hail Marys for Teel’s hammy because the Sox are going to need him healthy this season.

Hey, if Team Italy can beat the U.S. in baseball, maybe Chicago can actually compete in the American League Central.

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