As we approach the new year, the White Sox will look to continue to improve their team through multiple avenues. The White Sox will likely make a few free agent additions, a few trades, and a selection or two in the Rule-5 draft.
Perhaps the biggest improvement for the team can come from the young players continuing to get better, as most of their rookies had very good seasons. If they can continue to improve, the White Sox may take another big jump in the standings.
At this point in the offseason, we can take a look at projections for each player on the roster, as it is always interesting to see what the baseball media outlets think the individual performances on the White Sox will be. We already took a look at Kyle Teel’s absurd projections, now we take a look at Chase Meidroth’s 2026 projections.
According to FanGraph’s Steamer projections, they think that Meidroth will be the best player on the team in terms of WAR. Over 110 games, they believe that Meidroth will slash .261/.356/.360, adding nine homeruns, 40 RBIs, and 12 stolen bases. This would be good for a projected 2.6 WAR.
This would be pretty similar to his stats last year, as Meidroth played in 122 games for the White Sox, accumulating 1.2 WAR in that timeframe, according to Baseball Reference. He finished the season hitting .253 with a .329 OBP, adding five homeruns, 23 RBIs, and 14 stolen bases.
CHASE MEIDROTH OVER HAPP’S HEAD 🙂↕️ 🔥 pic.twitter.com/t6ygL1AHj0
— White Sox on CHSN (@CHSN_WhiteSox) July 25, 2025
FanGraphs believes that the power will tick up for Meidroth, as he they project his power numbers to almost double across the board. This would be a welcome development, as if he can add that kind of pop out of the leadoff spot, that could help the White Sox out tremendously.
FanGraphs is likely relying on Meidroth’s underlying data to back up their projection that he will improve, as according to Baseball Savant, he ranked in the 99th percentile in squared up percentage, in the 84th percentile in chase percentage, in the 96th percentile in whiff percentage, and the 88th percentile in strikeout percentage. He ranked among the league’s best in all of those categories.
Overall, FanGraphs believes that Meidroth will be better statistically in almost every single category than last season, which should be the trend for most of the White Sox young players. If the White Sox continue to refrain from spending big money in free agency, improvement from their young players will be one of the few avenues to playoff contention.
Unlike Teel’s projections, they believe that Meidroth will continue to improve throughout the course of 2026, making his way to be one of the better second basemen in the American League. This would be a huge development for the White Sox and they could have one of the best young infields if everything goes to plan.