Rumblings late last night/early this morning started to swirl that White Sox second base prospect Nick Madrigal has been promoted to AAA Charlotte.
Now, it's confirmed. The diminutive phenom will join Luis Robert once again in the final stop before reaching Chicago. It was only a matter of time before Madrigal got this promotion. He has been consistently hitting line drives in Birmingham in a park that is incredibly difficult to hit in. Since getting the call to AA, Madrigal has slashed .350/.409/.463. Good for a .872 OPS and a 158 wRC+ (58% better than league average). He also has 13 stolen bases for Birmingham and 30 for the whole season.
The fact that he has hit as well as he has with such little power (1 home run in 41 games at AA, 3 total for the year) is a really impressive feat. Now he gets to hit the juiced MLB baseball in one of the more hitter-friendly parks in all of the MiLB. With Madrigal's electric bat speed and contact-first approach, don't be surprised to see a sudden spike in his slugging percentage.
I didn't think either Luis Robert or Nick Madrigal had a shot at joining Chicago this year when the season started, and I still think it's more unlikely than not. But who knows? If one or both of them continue to obliterate minor league pitching, maybe Rick Hahn will let them get their cup of coffee in September so they're better prepared to hit the ground running in 2020.
With the trade deadline taking up much of the headlines, this is news that should greatly excite Sox fans. We're so close to having 2 major voids filled in the lineup in center field and second base. Now they just have to actually spend in the off-season and get Michael Kopech back and then it's off to the races with this team.
