On Friday, the White Sox made official what had been rumored for about a week. The club purchased the contract of second baseman Nick Madrigal from the Schaumburg training facility. In a corresponding move, reliever Kelvin Herrera was designated for assignment. Madrigal is FutureSox’ No. 4 prospect in the organization.
SERVICE TIME
By calling up Madrigal now, the White Sox ensure themselves of another year of contractual control over the 23-year-old Californian. He will gather 54 service days in this season, and the club will have six more seasons of control over him after this year. Chris Getz hinted at an imminent call-up on Thursday.
“He’s pretty close,” Getz said. “It’s purely putting him in a position to succeed when he gets there. His starter kit is pretty good as is, but we want to make sure we’re getting the most out of him right out of the gate.”
Over the past few seasons, it has become clear that when Getz says a player is ‘pretty close’ to a call-up, it usually happens the next day. To be fair, Madrigal did look good in Schaumburg again on Thursday, as evidenced by this footage shot by FutureSox’ James Fox, who was in attendance.
The call-up proves that the ‘best possible position’ mentioned by Getz is now, as Madrigal will make his major league debut tonight against the less-than-stellar Kansas City Royals and starting pitcher Kris Bubic. The former Stanford left-hander, who will also be making his big-league debut, is a familiar foe to Madrigal. The two faced off in college, and Madrigal had little trouble seeing Bubic’ pitches. He is 3-for-4 with a triple, a walk and a strikeout against the lefty.
LINEUP AND JERSEY NUMBER
The addition of Nick Madrigal gives the White Sox another top prospect in a line-up already filled with talent. As MiLB.com’s Sam Dykstra noticed, Friday’s White Sox lineup will consist of the reigning AL batting champ (Anderson), a former No. 1 overall prospect (Moncada), a three-time All-Star (Abreu), a two-time All-Star (Grandal), a former No. 3 overall prospect (Jimenez), the current No. 3 overall prospect (Robert), a 2019 All-Star (McCann), one of the 10 fastest players in the Majors (Engel), and the current No. 39 overall prospect (Madrigal).
Madrigal will be wearing jersey No. 1, which makes him the first White Sox player to wear that number since Adam Eaton, who wore it from 2014 to 2016. He is the first White Sox second baseman to wear it since Danny Richar (2007).
Photo credit: Sean Williams/FutureSox
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I am very happy for Nick and his family. He may be just the spark the Sox need to light their fuse and make their move in the AL Central!!!
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My new favorite player. He should have conversations with Ozzie Albies and Jose Altuve. 2 short second basemen who developed power after a few seasons in the majors.