Australian prospect Curtis Mead looks to rejuvenate career after trade to White Sox

SEATTLE — Curtis Mead’s baseball journey has taken him from one side of the planet to the other — and from the top of the game’s prospect stock market, tumbling toward becoming a trade-deadline commodity.

Once considered among baseball’s most highly touted young infielders, the 24-year-old Adelaide, Australia, native is out to prove he still can be a top-level performer with the White Sox, who acquired him last week from the Rays in a three-prospect package for veteran starter Adrian Houser.

The deal came as “a breath of fresh air” for Mead, who said ahead of the Sox’ series opener Monday against the Mariners that he felt stifled in the Rays’ system.

“Playing time was pretty limited, so I was excited for a new beginning and a new start,” said Mead, who flied out in his debut appearance, pinch-hitting in the ninth inning of an 8-3 loss. “For another club to give you another opportunity, it’s definitely something you don’t take for granted.”

It’s just the latest whirlwind for Mead, whose love for the game was inspired by his family Down Under. Mead’s grandfather played cricket and picked up baseball from American servicemen stationed in Australia during World War II. His father, Tim Mead, played for the Adelaide Giants of the Australian Baseball League.

The Sox’ new infielder was signed by the Phillies as an international free agent in 2018. They later traded him to the Rays for left-handed pitcher Cristopher Sanchez — who has put himself in the Cy Young conversation with a stellar campaign this season.

But Mead’s stock has fallen steadily since then. He was listed as the No. 33 prospect in baseball in 2023, then he fell to No. 55 last year before he was deemed expendable by the Rays for a deadline rental.

“It’s been an up-and-down journey for sure,” Mead said.

While he has batted .298/.372/.506 with 57 homers across five minor-league seasons, he hasn’t been able to translate that success to the bigs. He hit .226/.318/.339 with three homers in 49 games this year before the Rays dealt him.

“He’s not the first player that has had some major-league struggles early on,” general manager Chris Getz said after swapping Houser — who gave up five runs in his first start for the Rays on Monday — for Mead and two Triple-A pitchers.

“[Mead] has been productive, but based on what he’s done in the minor leagues, we feel like there’s more in the tank, and we identified some things in his offensive game that we feel like we can try to tap into to make him a real impactful major-league player,” Getz said.

He compared Mead to Miguel Vargas — one of Getz’s first trade-deadline acquisitions in Getz’s first full season as GM last year — as “a high-profile player that hadn’t really translated or taken at the major-league level.”

Before landing on the injured list over the weekend with an oblique strain, Vargas had overcome an anemic start to his Sox career to emerge this summer as one of their most consistent hitters and most versatile defenders.

“We feel like Curtis can do the same thing,” Getz said. “Most importantly, it’s about the next two months of work, going into the offseason and seeing where we’re at come spring training with Curtis.”

He’ll get plenty of opportunities with Vargas on the shelf and no one else seizing the first-base job. Manager Will Venable values defensive versatility, shuffling Colson Montgomery, Chase Meidroth, Lenyn Sosa and Brooks Baldwin around the infield.

“[Mead’s] a corner infielder that we can mix and match with, and obviously the right-handed bat we like against the lefties. So we’ll see what he can offer us here,” Venable said.

It’s a look Mead said he wasn’t sure he’d ever get playing his way up through the Australian league.

“I didn’t really think that anyone outside of the Phillies were really watching me play,” he said. “It’s been a pretty crazy journey to get to this point.”