White Sox's promotion of Chase Meidroth has interesting timing

The White Sox are going to call up prospect Chase Meidroth, as first reported by Thomas Nestico of TJStats. He is not yet on the White Sox's 40-man roster, so they will need to make a corresponding move to open a spot for him.

Meidroth, 23, will seemingly get to make his major league debut against his original club. A fourth-round pick of the Red Sox in 2022, he was one of four players flipped to the White Sox as part of the December 2024 trade which sent Garrett Crochet to Boston. The White Sox will be hosting the Red Sox for a three-game set this weekend.

Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery were the headliners of Chicago’s return, as top 100-prospects and former first-round picks, but Meidroth was an interesting secondary piece in the deal. As mentioned, he was a fourth-round pick in 2022, signing for a modest $272.5K bonus.

During his time in the minors, he has seemingly been disproving nominative determinism, as his primary attribute has been his plate discipline. He has 1,187 minor league plate appearances in his career thus far, with more walks than strikeouts. He’s drawn a free pass in 17.4% of those trips to the plate while only getting punched out 15.6% of the time.

The power is more questionable, as he only hit 23 home runs in that stretch. However, the overall production is still strong. He has a combined .285/.425/.414 batting line and 136 wRC+ at the moment, indicating he’s been 36% better than league average.

He has other attributes as well. He stole 13 bags last year and in 2023 as well. Defensively, he has played the three infield positions to the left of first base. Prospect evaluators don’t consider it likely that he becomes an everyday shortstop, but he can be solid at second and third while occasionally taking short in an emergency. Baseball America currently lists him as the No. 8 prospect in Chicago’s system.

Meidroth had a chance to crack the Opening Day roster since he spent all of 2024 at the Triple-A level. However, he hit just .146/.300/.171 in the spring and got sent to Charlotte to start the year. His nine games with the Knights have resulted in a .267/.450/.600 line and a call-up to the big leagues.

The White Sox should have the ability to give Meidroth playing time. Miguel Vargas has been the everyday third baseman this year but is hitting .179/.289/.231. Second baseman Lenyn Sosa has a line of .194/.219/.323. Shortstop Jacob Amaya is at .115/.143/.115.

Perhaps not coincidentally, Thursday is the last day that a player can be promoted and earn a full year of service time in 2025. A player needs 172 days in the majors to earn a full year of service, but there are only 171 days left in the season after Thursday. The Sox played Thursday afternoon and Meidroth won’t be added until Friday at the earliest. That means Meidroth will be under the one-year line even if he stays up with the club for the rest of the season. That will mean the Sox can control him through 2031 even if he immediately establishes himself as a big leaguer. Some players can still earn a full service year under such circumstances by finishing in the top two of Rookie of the Year voting, but that’s only for top prospects and not guys like Meidroth.

The Sox lost 121 games last year and are firmly in rebuild mode. At 2-10 following their latest loss, the 2025 campaign is mostly about playing time for young guys or potential trade candidates. Meidroth didn’t get his chance when camp broke but turned things on in Triple-A recently while others struggled in the majors, so he’ll get a crack at the big leagues now.