A host of new Cubs will take the field wearing the home white pinstripes for the first time during a season-opening series against the Brewers at Wrigley Field starting April 7.
Seiya Suzuki, the slugging star from Japan, will be there. So will Marcus Stroman, Clint Frazier and Yan Gomes. As will David Robertson, Andrelton Simmons, Jesse Chavez and Jonathan Villar. Mychal Givens and Drew Smyly, too. All are new to the Cubs family, signed this offseason by a franchise trying to regroup after last summer’s sell-off of familiar faces.
FIVE BIG QUESTIONS:
AL East | AL Central | AL West
NL East | NL Central | NL West
Nick Madrigal will make his Cubs debut, too. He’s been waiting a bit longer than the others. Madrigal joined the Cubs last July, in a trade that sent Craig Kimbrel across town to the White Sox. He was on the IL at the time, though, with a nasty hamstring tear that kept him sidelined the last three-and-a-half months of the season.
So, yeah, he’s antsy to make his Wrigley debut.
“I’m extremely excited,” he told The Sporting News last week at spring training. “It’s something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time, throughout the rehab process. Once I step on the field, it’s going to be a great feeling. I’ve heard so much about how special it was. I got the chance to go out there for a weekend last year, just seeing the atmosphere and feeling the passion of the fans.”
The fans are certainly going to love him, too.
Madrigal can hit. He was the fourth overall pick by the White Sox in the 2018 MLB Draft out of Oregon State, where he’d hit .380 and .367 his final two seasons and helped the Beavers to the 2018 College World Series title.
Madrigal hit .303 at three stops in the White Sox farm system in 2018, then hit .311 in three stops in 2019, including a .331 mark in Triple-A Charlotte, which was a pretty good showcase for what was to come in 2020. He made his MLB debut during the pandemic, and feels like “undaunted” is the right word; he batted .340 in 29 games for the Sox.
And 2021 started well, too. Madrigal was the starting second baseman, cruising along as a reliable bat at the bottom of a powerful lineup. And he was just starting to catch fire, batting .365 over a 20-game stretch, when the hamstring injury happened. And then the trade happened, catching most people in baseball off-guard. Not only was Madrigal batting .305 for the season, but the White Sox already had one of the sport’s best closers in Liam Hendriks.
But the Sox were thinking World Series-or-bust and the front office felt like another late-inning arm was important, and the Cubs wanted Madrigal. So the Sox made the move. Kimbrel didn’t pitch very well for the White Sox, though, and the team was eliminated by the Astros in the ALDS.
Meanwhile, all Madrigal could do was watch his old team and rehab to get ready to play for his new team in 2022.
“From the first day I walked in here, guys were just so welcoming to me. It made me feel like I’ve been here forever,” Madrigal said. “It’s an easy clubhouse. These guys are awesome. I’ve enjoyed it so much.”
MORE: The Sporting News’ MLB projections and predictions for 2022
Madrigal’s atop the depth chart at second base for the Cubs.
“He works his tail off. Pretty good baserunner,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “Good guy to have around. Has a very solid skill set and his bat-to-ball skills are obviously the things that jump off the page.”
The bat-to-ball skills are impressive. In 705 minor league plate appearances in 2018-19, combined, Madrigal struck out only 21 times. And while his strikeout percentage has “jumped” in the bigs, it’s still microscopic. In 324 plate appearances with the White Sox, Madrigal had only 24 strikeouts. That’s a strikeout percentage of just 7.4, which is the best in the majors for any player with at least 300 plate appearances over the past two seasons. Only four other players are even under 11 percent.
So what’s the secret of his success?
“Honestly, I’m just up there to hit the ball and hit it hard, y’know?” he said. “See the ball, hit the ball. I don’t really try to think too much about it. I know that my job is to get on base, whether it’s a walk, a hit-by-pitch, that’s my job in the lineup. Any way I can. I try not to overthink it. I’m my best when I’m not thinking at all up there, just keeping it simple.”
It’s hard to argue with the results so far in his career.
“I don’t like thinking mechanics at all. I think hitting’s mostly mental,” he said. “There are different strategies, different game plans, but when I’m going good I’m honestly just seeing it and hitting it. And when things are going bad, I’m thinking too much or just trying to do too much. I like to keep it simple up there.”
If he does that, Cubs fans are simply going to love him.