From idol to mentor, Teel elated to work with Posada on Team Italy

HOUSTON -- For Team Italy catcher Kyle Teel, playing in the World Baseball Classic has brought a unique opportunity: working with one of his catching idols, Jorge Posada.

Posada is an assistant hitting coach on the Italy staff. But it's his experience as a catcher -- and as a Yankee -- that's proving invaluable for a young player like Teel.

Teel, who just turned 24 and is coming off an excellent rookie season with the White Sox, grew up a Yankees fan in New Jersey. As a youth baseball player, he watched Posada and the rest of the Core Four who led the Yankees to a dynasty.

Now he's learning from Posada face to face.

"I'm just trying to be a sponge around him," Teel said before Italy's WBC opener against Brazil on Saturday at Daikin Park. "Growing up, watching him at Yankee Stadium, being a Jersey guy and all, it's really surreal being with him every single day."

Posada has embraced his teaching role with Team Italy and getting to work with an up-and-coming catcher in Teel -- who, like Posada, is an offensive-minded catcher.

"He has a great attitude," Posada told MLB.com. "He's prepared, and he looks forward to game time. I see a different Kyle when it's game time vs. when it's practice. I like him. He knows what he wants to do, and he cares. That's what you want as a catcher, is people that care. It means a lot to him, being a good catcher behind the plate."

Team Italy has no shortage of veteran big league catchers on its World Baseball Classic coaching staff -- it's not just Posada there, but also bullpen coach Sal Fasano and, of course, manager Francisco Cervelli. But for Cervelli, who has a host of managerial duties, it's been invaluable to have a catcher of Posada's stature around to mentor Teel.

In fact, it's exactly why Posada is on the coaching staff.

"That was the reason why I brought Jorge here," Cervelli said. "When I asked him, he didn't hesitate. He gave me the answer in five minutes. And I told Kyle and [fellow Team Italy catcher J.J.] D'Orazio, get as much information as possible.

"This guy knows about winning. This guy knows about the game. He played more than everybody else. He's got five [World Series] rings. So whatever you can take from him or from the whole coaching staff, it's going to be good for your career."

The Yankees icon, who played all 17 seasons of his career in New York, has been giving Teel pointers in particular about how to shape his gameday routine. Even before he met Posada, Teel was off to a good start to his Major League career -- he posted a 121 OPS+ in his first season, meaning he was 21% better than a league average hitter.

But Posada is the perfect guy to teach him a thing or two about the catcher position after all those All-Star seasons and World Series championships with the Yankees. Teel said it's been "phenomenal" getting pointers from Posada.

"I've told him little tricks," Posada said. "To get out there a little bit earlier, stretch and have his gear already in the bullpen. Little things that you don't think about, that I started to do later in my life. I wanted my gear out there. I would do my routine after hitting -- I would take my stuff to the bullpen, I would do my drills during batting practice, kind of like an infielder would do. And then I'd go back inside and get ready for the game. I feel like Kyle has an idea, but he didn't know all those little things that will help him be ready for the game."

It's also a point of pride for Posada that Teel looked up to him as a kid and wanted to be like him behind the plate.

"It means a lot," Posada said. "He's from the New York area, and he told me that he's from there -- but he didn't say anything until today that I was the guy he watched and looked up to. So it means a lot.

"Hopefully it's all good things [that Teel took away from watching me play]. I had a lot of pride in playing the game the right way -- and that's what you want. You want kids to look up to the way you play, the way you respect the game."