{"id":652941,"date":"2026-03-30T18:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T18:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/652941\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T18:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T18:28:15","slug":"white-sox-trade-curtis-mead-for-catcher-who-led-college-baseball-in-hrs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/652941\/","title":{"rendered":"White Sox Trade Curtis Mead For Catcher Who Led College Baseball In HRs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chicago White Sox<\/a> infielder Curtis Mead did not make the team\u2019s Opening Day roster<\/a> despite a strong spring and an impressive showing for Team Australia in the World Baseball Classic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rather than keeping Mead, the White Sox opted to carry six outfielders, with Austin Hays, Everson Pereira, and Tristan Peters all making the team as reserves. But because Mead was out of minor league options, he was designated for assignment<\/a> at the end of camp\u2014and has now been traded away.<\/p>\n

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Over the weekend, the White Sox dealt Mead to the Washington Nationals in exchange for minor league catcher Boston Smith<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Nationals have already made room for Mead on both the 40-man and active roster<\/a>\u2014ironically by designating former White Sox pitching prospect Jake Eder for assignment and optioning Andres Chaparro to the minors.<\/p>\n

Mead will now get an opportunity to stick on a big-league roster and showcase more of the upside he flashed this spring.<\/p>\n

Smith was a sixth-round pick by the Nationals in the 2025 MLB Draft<\/a>, selected 171st overall out of Wright State<\/a>. Washington signed him significantly under slot for just $50,000, and he did not appear in any minor league games after officially signing.<\/p>\n

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That makes him an older prospect to still be awaiting his professional debut. Smith is 23 years old, but it\u2019s not hard to see what the White Sox like about his potential.<\/p>\n

In his final season at Wright State, Smith batted .330 with 26 home runs, 70 RBIs, and 16 stolen bases. He posted a .770 slugging percentage and a .498 on-base percentage, good for a staggering 1.269 OPS\u2014making him one of the most statistically dominant players in college baseball. That kind of production is impressive for anyone, but especially for a left-handed hitting catcher.<\/p>\n

His 26 home runs were tied for the most in Division-I<\/a>, and his 1.264 OPS ranked seventh among qualified hitters. That\u2019s rare production for a catcher, particularly from the left side. And even though he\u2019s a bit older and doesn\u2019t have the prototypical build of a can\u2019t-miss prospect, there\u2019s at least some intriguing upside here for the White Sox.<\/p>\n

Smith also showcased his power in the MLB Draft League.<\/p>\n

All this said, catcher is already a position of strength within the organization. The White Sox have Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero at the MLB level, along with several intriguing prospects in the lower minors.<\/p>\n

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Landon Hodge<\/a>, a fourth-round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft out of a California high school, is currently the No. 21 prospect in the system and will begin the 2026 season in the Arizona Complex League. Fernando Graterol<\/a>, a 17-year-old ranked No. 27 in the organization, is another name to watch. There\u2019s also Jose Mendoza<\/a>, an 18-year-old catcher who showed promise in 2025 and is expected to open the season in the ACL as well.<\/p>\n

Smith has already been assigned to the ACL roster, but it\u2019s fair to wonder how long he\u2019ll stay there. At 23 years old with a full college r\u00e9sum\u00e9, a relatively quick promotion to Kannapolis wouldn\u2019t be surprising.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to criticize the White Sox for continuing to build strength up the middle. Catcher is a premium position, and you can never have too much depth there. But it will be important for the organization to properly stagger these prospects to ensure each player gets the development time they need.<\/p>\n

This is a trade worth circling back to at the end of the 2026 season. It will be a pivotal year for Mead as he looks to establish himself at the MLB level, and by then, we should have a much clearer picture of Boston Smith\u2014and whether his college production translates to pro ball.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chicago White Sox infielder Curtis Mead did not make the team\u2019s Opening Day roster despite a strong spring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2289],"tags":[124,5,6697,49,648,6524,458,10857,595,13095,6522,4,1694,2341,3624,30019,71],"class_list":["post-652941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-college-baseball","tag-austin-hays","tag-baseball","tag-boston-smith","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-college-baseball","tag-curtis-mead","tag-edgar-quero","tag-everson-pereira","tag-jake-eder","tag-kyle-teel","tag-minor-league","tag-mlb","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-baseball","tag-the-nationals","tag-tristan-peters","tag-washington-nationals"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116319545242111084","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}