Chase Meidroth has brought his advanced plate approach to Worcester; How is the infielder doing in Triple-A?
The WooSox have gotten off to a slow start this season after falling under .500 and being 10-13.
The roster is almost completely different than last season’s roster that boasted Wilyer Abreu, Enmanuel Valdez, Bobby Dalbec, and David Hamilton that carried the offense through the summer months. All four of those players are in Boston at the moment due to the influx of injuries to hit the major league team.
The open roster spots have given way to guys like Chase Meidroth to show what they could do with a promotion.
Meidroth might have been a bit overlooked last season as he ended the year on a Portland roster that featured Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, and Kyle Teel. The “Big Three” garner a lot of attention for good reason, but it was Meidroth who ended up getting the promotion to Worcester to start the year.
The 2022 4th round draft pick has brought an advanced plate approach to Worcester this season. He is currently sporting a 21.3% walk rate and a 9.3% strikeout rate over 80 plate appearances. On top of that, he has walked more times (16) than he has struck out (7) so far this season.
Portland Sea Dogs’ Marcelo Mayer was a triple shy of the cycle during huge game Wednesday night
“The biggest impression thus far, even prior to this week, was the knowledge of the strike zone,” WooSox manager Chad Tracy said to Beyond the Monster. “He finds his way onto first base and doesn't expand out of the zone. He has good bat-to-ball skills. When guys do that, you know they are going to start hitting sooner than later.”
While his .771 OPS is nothing to scoff at, it does currently sit below his career minor league OPS of .821. He is making a lot of soft contact off the bat that have resulted in bloop hits. He is finding unique ways to get on base on top of the walks by hitting it where the other team isn’t, even if it is resulting in soft contact. It’s too early to be concerned about the soft contact, as the temperatures have been low and the sample size is rather small still.
“I have been a little nervous to get up here,” Meidroth said to BTM. “I have gotten to pick the brain of Nick Sogard quite a bit throughout Spring Training and into this season. He has a great plate approach and has performed well at this level. He knows a lot about the game, and it has been awesome to try to follow in his foot steps.”
Nick Sogard is an ideal guy for Meidroth to learn from as they both have very similar plate discipline and are similar in the field.
Meidroth has seen time at second base, shortstop, and third base this season and has only made 1 error over 20 games. The 22-year-old is only listed at 5’9 and 170 pounds so he might profile best at second base in the long term, but his arm has shown to be quite sufficient at third base. He also brings added value by being able to play all over the infield.
