Chase Meidroth is hitting .271 across 617 plate appearances for the Chicago White Sox in 2026. That’s the number on the scoreboard. The story behind it starts in Jalisco.
His maternal grandfather was born in the Mexican state that gave the world mariachi and charrería — and, apparently, a family with a deep love for baseball. According to the White Sox organization, Meidroth grew up going to gatherings full of music, sport, and dancing. The kind of afternoons that stick with you and quietly shape who you become.
Not the Latino Ballplayer You’re Picturing
Meidroth doesn’t fit the template people usually have in mind when they think of a Latino player in the big leagues. He didn’t come up through the Dominican Republic or Venezuela. He got here the American way: the draft, the minor leagues, the White Sox development pipeline. But that grandfather from Jalisco is there — somewhere between the German last name and the Chicago cap.
The White Sox acknowledged it themselves, sharing that a big piece of who Meidroth is comes from that Mexican heritage and those family gatherings he grew up in.
What the Numbers Actually Say
In 2026, Meidroth has played 148 games with a .345 OBP — he reaches base more than a third of the time, which is exactly the kind of value modern front offices pay for. He’s not a power hitter: 14 home runs and 56 RBI make him a contributor, not a franchise cornerstone. But he’s also not a free-swinger: 136 strikeouts and 60 walks in 617 PA paint a picture of a hitter who understands the strike zone.
Where Statcast gets genuinely interesting is in the contact quality. His average exit velocity sits at 87.3 mph — 21st percentile in MLB. Not a guy who mashes. But his squared-up rate — the percentage of balls he actually barrels up — lands at the 85th percentile. He doesn’t hit it hard, but he almost always hits it right. That’s the kind of contact that doesn’t win you a Home Run Derby but absolutely holds up over 162 games.
The most striking number is his bat speed: 66.9 mph average, 1st percentile in all of MLB. Literally the slowest bat in the league. And he’s still hitting .271. That says everything about his timing, his pitch recognition, and the preparation that goes into every at-bat.
The Full Statcast Breakdown
- Plate appearances: 617
- Home runs / RBI: 14 / 56
- AVG / OPS: .271 / .746
- xwOBA: .295
- Avg exit velocity: 87.3 mph (21st percentile)
- Barrel rate: 4.3%
- Hard-hit rate: 34.4%
- Bat speed: 66.9 mph (1st percentile)
- Squared-up rate: 85th percentile
- Contact (whiff rate): 78th percentile
The slowest bat in baseball, a grandfather from Jalisco, and a .271 average. Chase Meidroth is not the player you’d build in a lab — and that’s exactly what makes him worth watching.
