Nick Madrigal has been on fire since the Cubs demoted him to Triple-A. However, history suggests they shouldn’t buy his success … yet.
For years now, Nick Madrigal has brought a very specific set of skills to a Major League Baseball field. He is a light-hitting middle infielder who has one of the most refined eyes and sense of patience at the plate in the entire league.
Since joining the Cubs prior to the 2022 season, he just has not managed to get it going at the plate. As a matter of fact, he’s only been limited to 93 games for the Cubbies over the past two seasons because he hasn’t contributed enough to stick at the game’s highest level.
Madrigal stuck around on the active roster until May 25 when the team decided enough was enough and optioned him to Triple-A Iowa. Since he was sent down, he’s once again been lighting up minor league pitching.
Cubs: We’ve seen this before from Nick Madrigal, is he finally turning it around?
Since his demotion to Iowa, the 26-year-old has appeared in eight games and has been getting on base in what feels like every single at-bat. He has 12 hits in 27 at-bats, good for a .444 batting average; with three doubles, two triples, a home run and seven runs driven in. This is all while drawing seven walks and striking out only three times.
The walks-to-strikeout ratio is especially of note here, because this has been something Madrigal has always excelled at. In parts of four minor league seasons, he has walked 61 times and struck out only 29 times. Insanity.
Notably, Madrigal has added a position to his defensive repertoire as he aims to find a path to consistent playing time in the big leagues. After coming up as strictly a second base-shortstop hybrid, he has made a total of 21 appearances between the big leagues and minor leagues so far. His well below-average throwing arm makes him a poor fit at third base, but apparently he is putting in the work to improve his arm strength and therefore further his value.
For the Cubs, it’s important to be mindful of Madrigal and how he’s performing in the minor leagues. Time and time again he has torn up the minors only to earn a big league promotion and flop. Statistically, he has one of the worst bats in the league so it’s starting to become a question of how long the Cubs will hold onto him, regardless of how well he hits in Triple-A.