Nicklaus Michael Madrigal (born March 5, 1997) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

second baseman for the Chicago Cubs of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He previously played for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

. He made his MLB debut in 2020.

Amateur career

Madrigal attended Elk Grove High School in

Elk Grove, California Elk Grove is a city in Sacramento County, California, located just south of the state capital of Sacramento. It is part of the Sacramento– Arden-Arcade– Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 Census, the population ...

, where he was teammates with Dylan Carlson. In 2015, his senior year, he batted .449 with 28 stolen bases. He was drafted by the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

in the 17th round of the

2015 Major League Baseball draft The 2015 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft was held from June 8 through June 10, 2015, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2014 MLB season standings. As the Diamondbacks f ...

. He did not sign with the Indians and attended

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering c ...

where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

for the

Beavers Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers a ...

. As a freshman at Oregon State, Madrigal started in 49 games and hit .333/.380/.456 with one

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

and 29

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

(RBIs). He was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and was a first team All-Pac-12 selection. In 2017, Madrigal's sophomore year, he batted .380 with four home runs and forty RBIs in sixty games and was named the Pac-12 Player of the Year. He was also named to the College World Series All-Tournament Team. In 2018, as a junior, he slashed .367/.428/.511 with three home runs and 34 RBIs in 42 games.

Professional career

Madrigal was selected fourth overall by the

in the 2018 Major League Baseball draft. He signed for $6,411,400, and was assigned to the

Arizona League White Sox The Arizona Complex League White Sox are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, competing in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team plays its home games at Camelback Ranch in Phoenix, Arizona. The team is compos ...

before being promoted to the

Kannapolis Intimidators Kannapolis () is a city in Cabarrus and Rowan counties, in the U.S. state of North Carolina, northwest of Concord and northeast of Charlotte and is a suburb in the Charlotte metropolitan area. The city of Kannapolis was incorporated in 1984. The ...

in July and the

Winston-Salem Dash The Winston-Salem Dash are a Minor League Baseball team in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They are a High-A team in the South Atlantic League and have been a farm team of the Chicago White Sox since 1997. The Dash began playing their home games a ...

in August. In 43 games between the three clubs, Madrigal slashed .303/.353/.348 with 16 RBIs and eight stolen bases. He returned to Winston-Salem to begin 2019 and was promoted to the Double-A Birmingham Barons in June after slashing .272/.346/.377 with 52 hits, 20 runs scored, and 17 stolen bases in 49 games with the team. Madrigal was named to the 2019 All-Star Futures Game. After the 2019 MLB trade deadline, he was promoted to the Triple-A Charlotte Knights.

Chicago White Sox

On July 31, 2020, Madrigal was promoted to the MLB. He started at second base and batted ninth against the Kansas City Royals. He went 0-for-3. On August 4, Madrigal suffered a separated shoulder while sliding into third base during a game against the Milwaukee Brewers. The next day he was placed on the injured list. Overall with the 2020 Chicago White Sox, Madrigal batted .340 with no home runs and 11 RBIs in 29 games. Madrigal underwent surgery to repair his separated shoulder following the 2020 season. On April 24, 2021, Madrigal got his first walk-off hit in his major league career in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Texas Rangers off of pitcher John King, leading the White Sox to a 2-1 win. On May 17, 2021, Madrigal hit his first major league home run off of

J. A. Happ James Anthony Happ (born October 19, 1982) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, Pittsburgh Pirates, New Y ...

of the Minnesota Twins. Madrigal hit .305/.349/.425 with 2 home runs and 21 RBI in 54 games. He was the team leader in hits with 61 until June 9, when he suffered a proximal tear of his right hamstring. He was placed on the 60-day injured list the following day. On June 15, the

announced on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that Madrigal had undergone surgery to repair the hamstring and would miss the remainder of the 2021 season.

Chicago Cubs

On July 30, 2021, Madrigal was traded along with Codi Heuer to the Chicago Cubs for

Craig Kimbrel Craig Michael Kimbrel (born May 28, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, Chicag ...

. On January 13, 2023, Madrigal agreed to a one-year, $1.225 million contract with the Cubs, avoiding salary arbitration.

Personal life

His twin brother, Ty, played college baseball at

Saint Mary's College of California Saint Mary's College of California is a private Catholic college in Moraga, California. Established in 1863, it is affiliated with the Catholic Church and administered by the De La Salle Brothers. The college offers undergraduate and graduate ...

. He signed with the White Sox as an undrafted free agent on June 16, 2020.

References

External links

Oregon State Beavers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Madrigal, Nick 1997 births Living people Arizona League White Sox players Baseball players from Sacramento, California Birmingham Barons players category:Charlotte Knights players Chicago Cubs players Chicago White Sox players Kannapolis Intimidators players Major League Baseball second basemen Oregon State Beavers baseball players Winston-Salem Dash players