The White Sox have stumbled into one of those good problems they haven’t had much experience with lately: two young players making themselves hard to leave out of the picture.
Sam Antonacci and Chase Meidroth are both in the middle of breakout seasons, and both have become central pieces in the White Sox lineup. That creates an interesting question as the 2026 season winds down and attention starts drifting toward 2027: can the Sox realistically keep both around long term?
Meidroth is the cleaner place to start. Acquired from the Red Sox in the Garrett Crochet deal, he reached the majors in 2025 and had a solid but unspectacular rookie year.
In 122 games, he hit .253/.329/.320 with five home runs and a .649 OPS. Given the crowd of infielders near the big-league level, there was at least some belief that Meidroth would need a real step forward to avoid getting squeezed.
He’s delivered exactly that.
Through 150 games in 2026, Meidroth has already tripled his home run total and pushed his OPS up to .744, a jump of nearly 100 points. His bat has come along, but the defensive value matters just as much. He’s been strong at second base, posting 10 OAA, and his 4.1 fWAR trails only Miguel Vargas among White Sox players.
Antonacci has made his case from a different angle. In 135 big-league games, he’s hitting .270 with eight homers and a .754 OPS, and he’s spent much of the season setting the tone at the top of the order.
He’s also been learning the outfield on the fly, playing left field for the first time professionally. That’s where the concern starts.
His defense in left hasn’t graded well, and because it’s such a new position for him, that uncertainty hangs over his future.
That’s where the White Sox may run into a roster puzzle.
Antonacci looks better suited to the infield in the long run, but there isn’t an obvious opening there right now. Caleb Bonemer and Roch Cholowsky are on the way, and Bonemer has already started getting time in the outfield to help speed up his path to the majors.
With Braden Montgomery improving and Tristan Peters turning in an excellent season in center, left field may be the most natural landing spot for Bonemer. If that happens, Antonacci is left searching for a home.
Maybe he settles into a platoon role. Maybe he becomes a utility piece.
That kind of profile fits on plenty of rosters. But a trade also has to stay in the conversation, whether it’s Antonacci or Meidroth.
Teams with real depth sometimes move a good player to bring back a better fit, and the White Sox could eventually face that kind of decision. It’s not a call they need to make yet, but it’s one worth keeping in the back pocket.
For now, both players are helping drive the White Sox’s success, and that’s the part that matters most in the moment. The 2027 roster debate can wait. Still, once that conversation starts, Antonacci and Meidroth are going to be right in the middle of it.
In Other News...
Former White Sox Players Are Fueling A Playoff Push Chicago Can Feel
A late-season surge in San Diego has a familiar Chicago footprint to it, with three former White Sox players helping push the Padres into the kind of form that can change a playoff picture in a hurry. The Padres have won 13 of their last 14, and the run has included meaningful contributions from Gavin Sheets, Austin Hays and Dustin Harris, each of whom reached this point through a different path away from the South Side.
Sheets is on the injured list but expected back for the postseason, while Hays has carved out a part-time role after being designated for assignment by the White Sox. Harris has become an everyday piece for San Diego after a series of transactions that also involved the White Sox and Astros, giving the Padres another useful bat at just the right time. For Chicago, it is the kind of reminder that roster churn does not always end when a player leaves town, especially when those players suddenly become part of a contenders most important stretch. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Wild Card Cushion Suddenly Feels Less Comfortable
The White Sox have spent much of the stretch run in a more comfortable position than some of the clubs chasing them, but the picture is getting tighter as the Astros keep hanging around the postseason race. Houston still has two ways in, either by catching Texas in the AL West or by climbing past Chicago for the final American League wild card spot, and the fact that the Astros own the tiebreaker in both directions adds another layer to the pressure on everyone involved.
For Chicago, that means the cushion in the wild card standings can no longer be treated like firm ground. Houstons path depends on a combination of its own remaining games and results elsewhere, with Texas, Toronto and Baltimore all part of the larger postseason puzzle, but the White Sox are the team most directly in the crosshairs. The margin is still there for now, yet it is the kind of lead that can shrink quickly when one contender is playing with multiple routes and every game around them starts to matter. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Fans Just Lost A Respected Voice From 2005
Don Cooper, one of the most recognizable voices and most respected hands in the White Sox dugout for nearly two decades, has died at 70 in Brentwood, Tennessee, according to a family statement. Cooper spent 2002 through 2020 as Chicagos pitching coach and was part of the staff that helped guide the 2005 club to a World Series title, making him a familiar figure to multiple generations of White Sox fans.
The organization offered its condolences and pointed back to Coopers long run with the club, noting his 33 seasons as a coach within the White Sox system. For a fan base that still remembers the 2005 run as a defining moment, his passing lands as more than just another note from team history - it is the loss of a steady presence tied to one of the franchises most celebrated eras. [Read more 🡒]