Curtis

Mead

The Nationals are only using Mead against lefties, so he was out of the lineup tonight for the eighth time in 10 games. The homer tonight, though, was off a solid righty reliever in Joel Payamps. It might make sense for the team to give Mead more of a look. Even if José Tena might be the better hitter against righties right now, he’d hardly seem to be in the Nationals’ long-term plans. Still just 25, Mead at least has a slim chance of being included.

Mead capped off a three-run uprising in the fifth inning with a 390-foot (109.6 mph EV) two-run shot off of Robbie Ray. That would be all the run support that Miles Mikloas and company would require in this one. For the season, the 25-year-old infielder is slashing a disappointing .205/.271/.409 with a pair of homers and seven RBI. Maybe this is the type of big hit that he needed to finally get rolling.

Nuñez has seven steals in 15 games, which is great. He’s also slashing .192/.276/.212 in 58 plate appearances. His defense at second base has been good enough that he will continue to get a chance to start, but if he doesn’t start hitting soon, the Nationals may start shifting him to a pinch runner and defensive replacement. Jorbit Vivas will start at second base and bat seventh with Brady House at third base, Luis Garcia at DH, and Curtis Mead at first base.

Mead has his first homer of the season, and it came off Matthew Liberatore in the fifth inning. The 25-year-old is a former Top 50 prospect who has shown some flashes of competence in his MLB time, but fantasy managers should take a wait-and-see approach; especially since he only appears to be getting in the lineup against southpaws.

Mead was designated for assignment by the White Sox before Opening Day, and he’ll give the Nationals some infield depth for the 2026 season. The former top prospect hasn’t done nearly enough in his MLB action to suggest he’s worthy of fantasy consideration.

Mead failed to make the White Sox while hitting .233/.258/.500 this spring. His exit velocities as a major leaguer just haven’t been very promising at all, and he’s never contributed much with the glove. Given the ability he showed offensively in the minors, perhaps there’s still something here to be fixed, but unless the Nationals are interested, it seems pretty likely that he’ll clear waivers.

Czechia was up 1-0 after two before Mead’s 388-foot blast in the third. It then remained a 3-1 game until Australia added two insurance runs in the ninth. The win moves Australia to 2-0 ahead of games against Korea and Japan. Czechia dropped to 0-2.

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.