Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery probably represented what the Garrett Crochet trade return will be graded by, but Chase Meidroth is the first part of it White Sox fans will see.
Before Chris Getz declared his expectation for the 23-year-old San Diegon (Diegonite?) to compete for an Opening Day roster spot, he was already coming off a full season of demonstrating that his unique offensive skill set can't be defused by Triple-A pitching. Meidroth hit .293/.437/.401 in 122 games at Worcester in what he termed "my favorite year of minor league baseball so far," in an introductory Zoom.
While most high contact hitters find themselves swinging at everything, Meidroth combines it with elite zone discipline — an approach he credits to his college coach Brock Ungricht championing the value of walks — has created a brand of production with which statistical models can't find fault. The more traditional scouting analysis is that someone this lacking in power (and physical projection to grow into more) rarely stings the ball enough to project their average to hold their high batting average against major league defenses or threatens pitchers enough to maintain such elite walk rates. A 5-foot-10-inch build enables his similarly compact swing, so Meidroth said he's focused on adding strength to try to counter those shortcomings without throwing off the baseline elements of his game.
"Just further power driving the ball through the gaps," Meidroth said. "That’s my game as far as power numbers. But that’s the biggest thing is to get more explosive, stronger and hit the ball a little bit harder, and I want to let that come from working out in the gym more than manipulating my swing."
The 2025 White Sox look a lot better situated than the 2025 Red Sox in devoting time to figuring out if Meidroth’s act can work at the highest level. Even if he didn’t want to begin his tenure with a new organization gloating about how wide open the depth chart is, Meidroth’s enthusiasm seems aligned with the level of opportunity.
“I’m fired up. It’s obviously what every player wants to hear,” Meidroth said. “I spoke to the GM right after the trade. There wasn’t much, it was pretty short and sweet. Come ready to go into Spring Training. That’s kind of what I’m trying to do right now.”
There are more immediate major league options (Brooks Baldwin, Lenyn Sosa) to compete with at second base, which Meidroth said has long been his favorite position, but shortstop with the White Sox holds the tougher task long-term of holding off Colson Montgomery. Meidroth played enough short this past season to profess comfort with the spot, but scouts see him more as a range-limited utilityman who covers second and third and picks up an outfield glove to cover a corner in a pinch, and he professed his willingness to do that as well.
On the whole, it’s a profile that seems really well-suited to make a roster for a rebuilding team since Meidroth can provide -- and outwardly enjoys -- long, competitive at-bats at multiple positions. Since the White Sox have regularly lacked for those and are in the middle of a long-term rebuild, the tracks are greased for Meidroth to be nearing his arbitration years before "Will his plate discipline allow him to succeed where other high-contact, low-power types have failed?" becomes a question with real stakes to it.
By then, it should be thoroughly answered.
The official optimistic White Sox view on Wikelman González is that a 22-year-old right-hander with obvious plus, bat-missing stuff at Double-A (29.5 percent strikeout rate over his last 12 outings of 2024) should not inspire such pessimism about his potential to start. They also might give him a two-seamer to add to his four-seamer, slider and changeup mix.
But league scouts who feel progress on González's command stagnated in 2024 could certainly find him midway through the year having the same season he had the summer before.
González says he wasn't having the troubles with sleeping and nutrition that dogged him in 2023, but as his ERA ballooned to nearly 8.00 at Double-A Portland in late June, he cut a similar image of a pitcher easily thrown off course.
"It all starts with your mind, how strong mentally you are and you can be in those situations," González said via team interpreter. "The issues at the beginning of the season was that I was hesitating too much. If I throw a walk, I was concerned about that runner. If somebody got a base, I was more concerned about the runner than the hitter. Those were the little things that threw me off at the start of the season. But then I was able to pay more attention to the hitters in those situations. I was able to believe more in myself, my stuff and then I think once I did that, I was able to get the results."
While he cuts a figure of someone near physical maturity, González said his offseason has been dedicated to adding strength in the hopes of improving his command and logging more than his 83⅔ innings last year, even though his clean track record of health is one of his attributes. While a relief future is something most scouts project at this point and Getz allowed as a possibility, González wants his 2024 cameos in the bullpen to be isolated incidents.
"The preparation, the routine that you have between outings; I’m used to that, I feel comfortable in that role," González said via interpreter. "I'm a starter. That is what I like to be. That is what I’ve always been most of the time. And that is one of the reasons why I want to improve my control, my command. Because I know that doing that, I'm going to be able to stay on the mound for a long time as a starter, and that’s what I want to do."
There were a lot of shorter outings and some relief appearances mixed in, but González held opposing hitters to a .149/.241/.230 line against him over his last 12 games of 2024, culminating in a 1.84 ERA. For someone who believes his main hurdle to the majors is consistent confidence, composure and mental strength, it was both a proof of concept and a nudge forward.
"Once I was able to control that to keep my focus on my plan, the things that I needed to execute, I was able to control that and to regain that confidence that sometimes I didn’t have," González said via interpreter. "I had a lot of confidence after seeing those results. Just knowing that I can trust myself. That i can pitch the way that I always pitch. Since I was a kid, I used to go up there and just pitch, not thinking about anything else. Once I realized that once I do that, I can do a good job. I can be a good pitcher, a good player."
