The White Sox have called up second baseman. Nick Madrigal, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN.com (via Twitter). His promotion had been anticipated but was not yet confirmed to be imminent.
Pain relieving Kelvin Herrera was designated for assignment to create 40 people and active list space. He was in the second season of a two-year, $ 17MM contract.
Madrigal, the fourth overall pick in the 2018 draft, will not have a chance to rack up a full season of MLB service. However, he will be on his way to finally qualify for refereeing after the 2022 season as a Super Two player.
It will certainly be fun to see the 23-year-old in the majors. He has a rather unusual set of abilities, with negligible power but an otherworldly contact ability and discipline at the plate.
A consensus among the top 50 prospects in the entire league, Madrigal has to keep hitting and walking at tremendous speed to be an above-average MLB hitter. Last year, at the three highest levels of minors, he recorded 532 plate appearances of .311 / .377 / .414 hitting. Although he only hit four home runs, Madrigal surprisingly struck out just 16 times while taking 44 walks.
As exciting as it is for the Red Sox to welcome Madrigal, saying goodbye to Herrera represents an acknowledgment of disappointment. The 30-year-old man signed his contract after recovering from a major standing procedure, but has simply not re-formed.
As MLBTR’s Connor Byrne examined in depth recently, the once-excellent reliever has struggled powerfully in Chicago. He limped to a 6.14 ERA in 51 1/3 innings in 2019 and was bombarded for four runs won in his first two outings in 2020. Worse yet, his typically higher than ninety fastball speed has dropped to approximately 94 mph in so far this season.
With the decision, the White Sox will owe Herrera the remainder of the prorated portion of his $ 8.5M salary this year. They will also have to pay you a $ 1MM purchase on a 2020 concession / club option.
