CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 SPORTS) -- Every few games Kyle Teel will make a play few have ever seen a player make in a Virginia uniform.

"He's a freak athlete, he goes after everything, he's all in for every pitch," freshman pitcher Jack O'Connor said.

Teel had just chased a ball halfway down the first base line and made an almost second baseman-like flip to first base for the out in a game against Radford. In his two decades at Virginia, head coach Brian O'Connor has coached 14 MLB Draft first round selections, but only one catcher in Matt Thaiss in 2016. Kyle Teel will likely become the second catcher come July, currently rated as the No. 15 overall prospect by MLB.com.

"He loves to play, he's ready to play every day," Brian O'Connor said, "He's one of the better athletes we've ever coached here in our 20 years here and that was phenomenal. Personally, I think the guy could play anywhere on the field, he thinks he can pitch."

There was a brief time Teel tried to pitch on the Road to Omaha in 2021, but no matter where he lines up no player in college baseball is having more fun than Kyle Teel.

"Make the most of every moment really and to play the game and have fun and win," Teel said, "When you do those two things it's hard not to have fun."

The passion came at an early age with his dad Garett, who spent five years in the Los Angeles Dodgers minor league system and decades as a trainer, as well as a mom who played softball.

"Grew up with a big family, big sports-oriented family and we played sports to have fun, it was always about the fun, it was not about anything else but that," Garett Teel said, "Like a 12-year-old playing baseball right now, you don't want to lose that quality."

Many of Teel's early baseball memories and the early days learning the sports came around his family.

"I pretty much lived in the batting cage my whole life, my mom set me up on the tee lefty and I've hit with my dad an uncles since I was this big," Kyle said, "I've just always been growing up around it."

This season Teel also reunites with his younger brother Aidan, a freshman pitcher who is currently redshirting following Tommy John surgery. Aidan knows full well Kyle's passion for the game and competition.

"Compete with everything," Aidan said, "I remember when we were younger we would compete who got the bigger ice cream bowl and we just compete in everything, mini basketball before bed, our mom yelling at us to go to bed."

As a junior, Teel has established himself as one of the best catchers in all of college baseball setting career-highs at the plate for batting average (.415), home runs (9), doubles (22) and RBI (52), all while leading one of the ACC's best pitching staffs.

"The No. 1 thing that I am is a hard worker off the field because that's really what I do, like on the field is just a result of what happens," Kyle said.

This is the first season Aidan has played on the same team as his older brother after COVID wiped out Kyle's senior year. While the two are not making up the battery the Teel family always dreamed of, Aidan has seen the hard work his brother put in to go from hitting .276 to leading the ACC with a .415 batting average a year later.

"He can do anything and he's someone that if he sets his mind to it, he will be the best at it and there's nobody that can change his mind about it," Aidan said, "Which is for some people it can be annoying."

Teel will likely see some postseason honors start to roll in after the Cavaliers close the regular season in Atlanta against Georgia Tech and could become the first Virginia player to win the ACC batting title since Adam Haseley in 2017 and only the fifth catcher in ACC history.

"We're seeing a part of him right now, but we're not even seeing the best parts of him yet," Garett Teel said, "He's got a lot to come over the next four or five or six years."

While no one is quite sure the hours Teel has logged on the field or batting cages it is safe to say the UVA catcher has never worked a day in his life because of his love for the game.

"There are times where the game is really challenging and it'll beat you down a little bit," Kyle Teel said, "But it makes the good times that much better."