Red Sox Prospect Chase Meidroth Projects as a Poor Man’s Pedroia

The Red Sox got a diamond in the rough when they chose Chase Meidroth in the fourth round of last year’s draft. Splitting time at third and second base, the 21-year-old University of San Diego product is slashing .309/.453/.445 with six home runs and a 155 wRC+ between High-A Greenville and Double-A Portland. A patient hitter who had more walks than strikeouts as a collegian, he’s logged 44 of each in 243 plate appearances.

Currently No. 15 on our Red Sox Top Prospects list as a 40+ FV prospect, the Manhattan Beach, California product isn’t built for power, but he is bigger than the 5-foot-9, 170 pounds that most publications are listing him at. As he explained prior to a recent game, he is now a solid 195 pounds. Long gone are the days when he was a lightly-recruited 5-foot-8, 150-pound prep performer. What hasn’t changed is the dirt-dog attitude that has prompted at least one Red Sox staffer to offer a Dustin Pedroia comp.

Chaim Bloom didn’t volunteer any comparisons when I asked about the club’s decision to draft the under-the-radar infielder, but he did touch on the process behind the pick.

“There are some people in this world who can just flat hit, and he’s one of them,” Boston’s Chief Baseball Officer told me. “The combo of ability and makeup really caught our scouts’ eyes. This is somebody who, coming into our meetings before we really knew how our board would fall… we felt like there was a good chance we might end up with this guy. There were a lot of good indicators there. Our scouting opinions and the work we do to understand players analytically all converged.”

Meidroth hit the road running as a professional, slashing .309/.424/.559 with Low-A Salem after an initial cup of coffee in the Florida Complex League. A year later, he’s climbed the ladder to Double-A, this after torching High-A pitching to the tune of a 174 wRC+ over 20 games. Since being promoted, he has a 142 wRC+ over 33 games.

“He’s an advanced hitter with a really good understanding of the strike zone,” said Red Sox farm director Brian Abraham. “He was bumped up to Greenville this year and his at-bats were so competitive that he almost forced our hand to get him to Double-A. Double-A is certainly more of a challenge, but he’s continued to progress and have success. He’s hit the ball hard and continued to get on base.”

Meidroth excels at the latter — an eye-opening .448 OBP over 339 professional plate appearances is proof in the pudding — and while that reach rate is obviously unsustainable, his combination of bat-to-ball skills and a discerning approach is exemplary. As our lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen pointed out earlier this month, Meidroth “was absurdly difficult to strike out in college” and has been “swinging roughly 30% of the time.” Prone to be too patient, he’s recently been nudged toward being a bit more aggressive at the plate.

“My game is to put the ball in play and have competitive at-bats to help give our team the best chance to win,” explained Meidroth, who takes his cuts from the right side. “I’m trying to provide opportunities for the guy behind me to drive me in, whether that’s by hitting a single, walking, or getting hit by a pitch. It’s kind of the whole pass-the-torch mentality, which I’ve had my whole life. In college, we really zoned in drawing our walks and staying in our zone. That’s kind of created the hitter I am, and that I want to be.”

Hitting the ball hard is an obvious goal — most everyone who stands in the batter’s box aspires to do exactly that — but at the same time, Meidroth claimed not to pay much attention to exit velocity. Hearing that, I asked him if he’s a proponent of the Luis Arraez school of hitting, where all that really matters is that the baseball lands safely on the grass.

“It’s not so much that as I view at-bats as there being a lot of ways to win them,” said Meidroth. “For instance, if you see 10 pitches, that extends the inning for the pitcher. As for Arraez, I’d like to say him [as a comp], but that guy is on a whole other level. Obviously, you’re seeing what he’s doing this year. But I mean, I grew up watching guys like Dustin Pedroia and Justin Turner. They’re both very smart hitters with great approaches, so I’ve always tried to try to model my game after theirs. Obviously, I’ve got a long ways to go to be at that level.”

That Meidroth brought up Pedroia and Turner substantiates both comps, even though he wasn’t actually making them himself. A professional scout I spoke to volunteered the latter — he envisions Meidross producing more power as he gains experience — while the former had a 5-foot-9 frame, a line-drive stroke, and confidence that came with a chip on the shoulder. Hand-eye coordination and attitude are shared attributes.

“I’ve always been able to swing it a little bit, even from a young age,” said Meidroth, whose prowess with a ping pong paddle is equal to that of his ability with a bat. “I mean, I was always told that I was undersized to play at a high level, but I kind of just let the outside noise take care of itself. I’m just here to win games, and as long as you win, it doesn’t really matter what people say.”