White Sox Minor Keys: May 21, 2019
Intimidators Stadium before Game 1. (Jonathan Lee)
Following up on a note a couple of days ago, Bryce Bush indeed went on the 7-day injured list after missing the previous three games. As Greg pointed out, a couple of foul balls to the foot appear to be to blame:
Charlotte 2, Gwinnett 1
- Danny Mendick went 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Daniel Palka doubled, walked and struck out twice.
- Zack Collins went 2-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Carson Fulmer: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Fayetteville 7, Winston-Salem 2
- Nick Madrigal’s seven-game hitting streak ended with an 0-for-4 night, with a rare strikeout.
- Steele Walker went 1-for-4 with a homer, walk and two strikeouts.
More:
*Walker’s homer:
Hagerstown 12, Kannapolis 5
- Lenyn Sosa went 1-for-5.
- Romy Gonzalez, 2-for-4 with a pickoff.
- Davis Martin: 1.2 IP, 9 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR
- Jason Bilous: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 WP
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Yikes, opponents are scoring 9.4 runs per 9IP against Martin this season. He’s the definition of Meat.
You’re burying the lead. 3 K’s in 1 2/3 innings!
Apropos of nothing – remember how Seth Beer would’ve been considered a major reach for the Sox at fourth overall last year, and we instead took the “best college hitter in the draft” in Madrigal? I decided to look at Beer’s stats so far this year. It seems like he might be good at baseball as his 1.016 OPS in high-A and strong start (small sample) in AA suggest.
Obviously Madrigal is far from a lost cause and defensive position/skill matter, but it makes me nostalgic for the days of “Tank for Beer”….
Did this the other day, but Madrigal has the worst walk rate of the first 30 hitters drafted last year. Nobody is afraid to throw this guy strikes because he makes such weak contact.
That’s a one sided argument. A lot of Madrigals value is going to come from defense and base running. We hope he is an average to above average hitter that does the other other two things I just mentioned well. All of Beer’s value is going to come from his bat. He is a DH/1B and has a high offensive bar to clear at those positions. The offense of 2Bs has been below league average as a whole, so Madrigal doesn’t have to rake to fine in that regard.
Right – Beer’s value is completely in his bat, but my point is that he is progressing well in that regard, maintaining an OPS over 1.000. There’s no guarantee that he’s continue to hit as he matriculates, but he’s checking the boxes so far.
While Madrigal doesn’t have to be an offensive powerhouse given his other tools, I sure hope we can expect more than a .265 BA and sub-.700 OPS which he’s currently sporting while age-appropriate in high-A. The usual caveat applies – this could all change in a hurry. Maybe he starts clicking and get his BA up closer to .300. I definitely hope it does. As @Marty34 pointed out above, if pitchers don’t fear his bat it’ll be increasingly difficult for him to draw walks.
This reminds me a bit of the discussions around Gavin Sheets last year. There’s no harm in pointing out that Madrigal’s bat isn’t delivering as we might have expected to this point. He’s not a lost cause and he has plenty of time to turn it around, but his current performance with the bat is what it is. I had hoped to see him progress more quickly as a polished college bat picked fourth overall – that’s all.