Chicago White Sox: 2021 grade for Nick Madrigal

Nick Madrigal made his MLB debut in 2020 and did a very nice job. He had a little bit of an injury throughout that shortened season but was solid overall. Everyone was very excited about him coming into 2021. He was very good during his time with the Chicago White Sox before an injury took him out for the entire 2021 season.

That injury already came after the losses of Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert for many months. Three significant White Sox contributors were now lost for a very long time. In Madrigal’s case, it was for the entire rest of the season and playoffs.

While Madrigal was on the Injured List, the White Sox traded him and Codi Heuer to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Craig Kimbrel. It was a tough deal to make but the right one at the time. Unfortunately, the trade didn’t really work out well for the Sox.

Kimbrel was not good at all as a setup man as the White Sox did not put him in a position to succeed. The rumors are now that they are going to trade him after picking up his team option in 2022. Meanwhile, Madrigal and Heuer are set to be key contributors to the Cubs in 2022. It is sad that he is gone because he is a very unique and very good baseball player.

With the White Sox in 2021, he had a slash line of .305/.349/.425 for an OPS of .774. That is a really nice improvement for his OPS as he started to show just a bit more power than he did in 2020. He hit two home runs, had 21 RBIs, and 30 runs scored. His 1.2 WAR in 54 games shows exactly how nice he was to have.

2021 Final Grade: B

The only reason that Nick Madrigal gets a B instead of an A is that he got himself really injured. If he stayed healthy and with White Sox, he probably would have deserved an A. He gets a B for the small sample size that he had on the south side. It is fair to wish that we were able to see more but he will be taking his talents to the north side.

2022 Expectations:

Madrigal will be the Chicago Cubs’ second baseman in 2022. They are rebuilding and Madrigal is now a big part of their plans. He should provide some great depth to their lineup as they look for the next players to come in and lead the way.

With Nico Hoerner, they should provide a very good middle infield defensively. He should also be the perfect slap-hitting number nine hitter in the batting order. Even though it is hard to cheer for the Chicago Cubs, Madrigal is a great player that deserves well wishes. He is great.