Curtis

Mead

It’s unclear when the injury happened. Elko was sent back to Triple-A at the beginning of September after hitting .134/.194/.328 in 72 plate appearances for the White Sox. The 26-year-old hit .292/.361/.575 with 24 homers in 355 plate appearances at Triple-A, so there is some intriguing power potential here, but Elko is expected to miss around eight months, which would put him back around July, if all goes well. That will give Curtis Mead a chance to earn more at-bats in 2026 if the White Sox are willing to move Lenyn Sosa and Miguel Vargas off of first base.

Even in a breakout season for the 25-year-old infielder, Sosa has found himself getting regular days off down the stretch as the White Sox attempt to work everyone into their lineup. Curtis Mead will start at the hot corner on Thursday evening while Miguel Vargas slides over to cover first base against Carlos Rodon and the Yankees.

Tauchman has been a mainstay against right-handers all year long and Taylor was playing most of the time with Luis Robert Jr. on the shelf, but it seems the White Sox have decided to take a look at younger players this last week of the season. They have Brooks Baldwin in center and Dominic Fletcher in right tonight. Notably, the prioritizing of younger players isn’t doing Curtis Mead any good; he’s started just one of the last six games.

Mead smacked a go-ahead RBI single off of Dylan Cease in the fourth inning that put the White Sox ahead to stay. That would be his only hit in three at-bats on the night. For the season, the 24-year-old infielder is now hitting .243/.311/.335 with three homers, 19 RBI and five stolen bases over 254 plate appearances between the Rays and White Sox.

It appears to be nothing more than a routine night off for the hard-hitting infielder. Miguel Vargas will cover first base for the White Sox on Friday night while Curtis Mead will start at the hot corner and bat seventh against Padres’ right-hander Dylan Cease.

It appears to be nothing more than a routine night off for the 23-year-old slugger. Chase Meidroth will slide over and cover shortstop, Lenyn Sosa will handle second base and Curtis Mead will start at first base and bat second for the Sox against Guardians’ southpaw Parker Messick.

Vargas has been sidelined with a hand sprain since August 29th. White Sox manager Will Venable said that Vargas won’t require a rehab assignment, which means that he could return by the end of this week. His return could cut into the playing time for Curtis Mead, who has been starting regularly at third base.

It appears to be nothing more than a routine night off for the 25-year-old slugger. Curtis Mead will cover first base in his absence on Friday evening while Bryan Ramos will draw a start at third base and bat eighth for the White Sox against Tigers’ right-hander Jack Flaherty.

Ramos, who appeared in 32 games for the White Sox last year, will be making his 2025 debut after hitting .218/.317/.391 with 14 homers in 392 plate appearances for Charlotte. His stock has definitely declined some the last two years, and while he’s still just 23 and young enough to rebound, it’s hard to project him as the White Sox’s third baseman of the future at this point. He’ll probably share time with Curtis Mead for now, and he might be sent back down if Miguel Vargas comes back this month.

With Miguel Vargas returning and playing first base, the White Sox are going to move Mead over to third base to allow him to play regularly. ‘‘We need to find out about Curtis, and we haven’t seen him [at third] at the big-league level, so part of that is to explore what the best alignment is going to be,’’ White Sox manager Will Venable said. Despite not yet producing at the big league level, Mead is a former top-50 overall prospect who’s a career .298 minor league hitter with an .878 OPS. He’s worth a look in deeper leagues now that we know he’s going to play most days.