Nick Madrigal (2B/SS, CWS) - Week 3 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 13% of leagues

ANALYSIS: By all accounts, 23-year-old Nick Madrigal is one of the top 50 prospects in baseball, and with only two seasons (628 AB) of minor-league play under his belt, the youth-stocked Chicago White Sox have already given Madrigal the major league call up. Putting the highly-touted Oregon State product on the fast track might seem odd when viewing his overall minor league OPS of .769, but that number is skewed by the fact that Madrigal only hit his true stride once he arrived at Double-A Birmingham.

In 164 Double-A AB, Madrigal netted 14 stolen bases in 20 attempts, only struck out five times, and hit for a well-rounded slash of .341/.400/.451. He kept the ball rolling with Triple-A Charlotte, producing eight XBH, four steals (albeit in seven attempts), once again only striking out five times, and hitting for a squeaky clean slash of .331/.398/.424 in 118 AB.

Madrigal can play both second base and shortstop, and while Tim Anderson clearly blocks his path to regular playing time at short, he just hit the 10-day IL, so it looks like even more room just opened up for Madrigal in the White Sox lineup. Once Anderson returns, there is only Leury Garcia standing in his way for playing time at second. To be fair, Garcia has had a solid start to 2020, but his slash reads power-heavy at .217/.280/.478, and that slugging percentage is way outside the norm for his career, so it is very possible that Garcia's time on the field is for the taking. Nick Madrigal is regarded as one of the best pure hitters in the game among prospects who can steal bases in bulk when he decided to. It might be against the odds that he immediately sets the south side on fire, but the interjection of his talent into this super weird season should not be ignored.