The only thing keeping Chase Meidroth down in Triple-A was service time.
Tomorrow will be the first day teams can call up prospects and not burn a year of club control. After raking at Triple-A Charlotte, the White Sox have decided to call up their eighth-ranked prospect according to multiple sources.
BREAKING: Chicago White Sox are calling up Chase Meidroth, sources tell TJStats
— Thomas Nestico (@TJStats) April 10, 2025
Meidroth (INF) is a extremely patient contact hitter that has flown through the minors with exceptional production. He was acquired by the White Sox in the offseason as part of the Crochet deal pic.twitter.com/Gsy3akZaPZ
On one hand, it is nice to see the Sox start calling up guys who project to potentially be on the next competitive team in a few years.
On the other hand, the White Sox sacrificed potentially having a shot to gain an extra draft pick had Meidroth somehow won AL Rookie of the Year. It was all done for the sake of not starting his club control clock.
They decided the extra year of service is worth more than the comp pick potential.
— Patrick Nolan (@SoxMach_pnoles) April 10, 2025
Honestly, they're right, but it's such low value that it's not worth the middle finger to Meidroth and the fans. The right to sign Meidroth to a 1-year, arb-4 salary in 2031 is big time whateverrr
Getting upset about manipulating his service time might not be worth getting bent out of shape only because no one knows what club control will look like in the next collective bargaining agreement.
The owners will push hard for a salary cap in the next CBA, and the only prayer they have of getting it is if they agree to reduce the club control years from six to what the NBA, NFL, or NHL has.
Meidroth has the potential to be an impact player, but it is more for his ability to get on base. A high on-base percentage usually does not win Rookie of the Year.
However, if he does come up and plays great to earn the award, then the team committed organizational malpractice.
What matters is the modern-day Greek God of walks has finally been called up.
He was making it hard for the team to ignore that he had nothing left to prove in the minors.
Chaise Meidroth time in Chicago 👀
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) April 10, 2025
The White Sox are calling up their No. 8 prospect. Meidroth was one of multiple players acquired in the Garrett Crochet trade.
(🎥 @KnightsBaseball)
pic.twitter.com/kkOHvvARg4
Meidroth jumped out to a 1.050 OPS at Charlotte with three home runs in nine games. This is on top of the .837 OPS he had a Triple-A Worcester last season when he was the Boston Red Sox.
He also sports a career .425 OBP in the minors.
With the White Sox scoring just three runs over 27 innings against their division rival, the Cleveland Guardians, the Sox needed a boost offensively.
They definitely could use an upgrade at second or shortstop--the two defensive positions he can play.
Lenyn Sosa has a .593 OPS while regularly manning second base this season. Brooks Baldwin has gotten time at short and second. He has produced a .539 OPS.
Finally, Jacob Amaya has been getting the majority of the starts at shortstop, and his slash line is .103/.129/.103. If Amaya did not play such great defense, he would have been cut by now.
The ideal situation is to have Baldwin regularly play short since he is still 24 and has shown some flashes of solid play during this young season. Then Meidroth should start at second since that is his best defensive position.
The other big piece of news regarding this call-up is that he will debut against the Boston Red Sox, the team that sent him to Chicago.
The Red Sox had a good reason to trade him away. They acquired ace pitcher Garrett Crochet.
Meidroth was one of the four prospects the White Sox got back for Crochet. The team has decided to keep Kyle Teel down in the minors for the time being.
They could have elected to call him up when Korey Lee went on the 10-day IL, but they went with the smart decision to call up veteran Omar Narvaez to help the young starters get through some challenging times.
Braden Montgomery was the other highly regarded prospect the White Sox got in the Crochet trade. He is still years away, considering he is playing in his first professional season after an ankle injury prevented him from participating in the Complex League last season.
The Sox also got pitcher Wikelman Gonzalez who is ranked as the team's No. 18 prospect.
Teel and Montgomery were the headliners, but Meidroth was also highly regarded based on his .293/.437/.400 slash line last season at Triple-A.
Also, he appeared to be the most MLB-ready prospect in the return the White Sox got back.
Now he will get a chance to show his former team what they could have.
Let's hope he shows them that they will be missing a good player. Although Crochet gets a chance to show the White Sox what they are missing, as he is tentatively scheduled to start Sunday.