The Boston Red Sox selected former Virginia catcher Kyle Teel with the No. 14 overall pick in Sunday’s MLB Draft, and of course baseball fans found a way to make it awkward.
If you’re an elite baseball player — one good enough to get drafted by an MLB team — odds are that you grew up rooting for a different team than the one that drafted you. And in Teel’s case, he grew up in New Jersey and was a huge Yankees fan. Right after the rival Red Sox announced the Teel selection, fans took a deep dive into his Instagram account and uncovered a photo of him wearing a Yankees jersey.
Red Sox first round pick Kyle Teel grew up a HUGE Yankee fan pic.twitter.com/2H4LnCLTlT
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) July 10, 2023
Obviously, growing up a Yankees fan won’t stop Teel from shifting his allegiance over to the Red Sox. After all, there’s a huge difference in rooting for a team and being an actual player in an organization. It’s a career now. Aaron Judge was photographed in a Red Sox shirt, for example, before he became a star for the Yankees. It happens!
Still, Teel made a point to delete that photo from his account (though the screenshot is still around), and he added that he was all in on the Red Sox now.
“Growing up, I was a Yankees fan, but now, I bleed Red." 🩸
Welcome to Boston, Kyle Teel.pic.twitter.com/ODcd1KUX7G
— Tyler Milliken ⚾️ (@tylermilliken_) July 10, 2023
But if Teel does end up becoming a star for the Red Sox, we already know that Yankees photo will follow him throughout his career. MLB fans didn’t wait to get a head start on the jokes.