Three days after locking in an extra year of team control, the White Sox called up Nick Madrigal in advance of tonight's opener in Kansas City.
To make room for him, the Sox designated Kelvin Herrera, which is significant news on its own.
First, Madrigal. Unlike the other highly touted position players the White Sox have promoted over the last few seasons, Madrigal surfaces with the lowest expectations, at least in terms of GIF-worthy, Statcast-melting buzz. He's not much for pulling the ball in the air at the moment, so his contributions are likely to be limited to mostly singles and hustle doubles. His game is about winning on the margins -- few strikeouts to erode his contributions at the plate, good defense at second base, aggressive baserunning that helps more than it hurts, and a borderline rabid competitive streak.
Running with Madrigal carries potential risk, but not much. He looked ready late last year, but the White Sox avoided promoting him in September to delay the start of his service-time accumulation. Rushing him, especially in 2020's warped competitive environment, isn't really a concern.
Madrigal might beat a lot of quality pitches into the ground and get thrown out by a step at first base too often in his first months as a White Sox, but that's kinda what Leury García is doing already, at least when he faces right-handed pitchers. The upgrade in defense should be worth it in the short term, with the reps during an uncertain season paying off in the long run.
As for Herrera, pitching him was counterproductive. Not only was he likely their worst regular right-handed reliever, but every time he pitched, the White Sox drew an outing closer to guaranteeing his $10 million option for 2021. Herrera needed 21 of those in 2020, but he only made two appearances -- the latter featuring two homers over two innings in the finale of the Twins series -- before the White Sox decided they'd seen enough.
Herrera finished the White Sox portion of his two-year, $18 million contract with a 6.54 ERA over 59 games. The signing wasn't a bad idea on paper, but given that Herrera was coming off a torn Lisfranc ligament in his left foot, it wasn't without risk, either.
Sure enough, Herrera's velocity dropped. While he was effective for about the first five weeks of his tenure, but his back locked up during an ill-fated outing against Boston in early May 2019, and he wasn't the same after. His ERA with the White Sox hovered above 6.00 for his last 38 outings.
With Madrigal up, Nomar Mazara is the only piece missing from the White Sox's ultimate 2020 lineup, and he's tuning up in Schaumburg. For the time being, García can help in a corner outfield spot to help the Sox get away from Nicky Delmonico if they so choose.
