Things have taken a terrible turn during the past week for the Chicago Cubs. After getting back in the division race by winning 11 of 13 games, the Cubs have now lost 7 of their last 8 games and following Monday’s disastrous loss against the Milwaukee Brewers it looks like the Cubs are going to be losing their hottest hitter as well.
This is just brutal timing for Nick Madrigal. For the first time as a member of the Cubs, Madrigal was finally going through an extended period of success, which is what fans thought they would be getting when the team traded for the infielder in the summer of 2021. After tweaking his right hamstring during Monday’s series opener against the Brewers, Madrigal could likely be headed to the 10-day injured list.
The infielder banged into the side wall behind the third base bag, going down the left field line in the fourth inning of Monday’s game. Madrigal winced, as it looked like he banged one of his knees up against the wall, but the third baseman stayed in the game. Madrigal eventually caught the second out in the fourth, but after a pitching change with two outs the Cubs also took Madrigal out of the game.
Here’s the play.
It was later revealed that it wasn’t a knee injury, but instead Madrigal left with right hamstring tightness.
Madrigal was sent down to Triple-A in May, but after a couple of scorching hot weeks with the Iowa Cubs, he was brought back on June 9, against the San Francisco Giants. Since then, Madrigal has gone 19-for-58, good for a .328 batting average, to go along with six extra base hits and an OBP above .400, during the past three weeks. That included a two-run double down the left field in the third inning against the Brewers before suffering the injury.
Heading into the Brewers series, Madrigal had a 139 wRC+ in 67 plate appearances since returning from the minors. That was the high-mark on the Cubs since June 9, among players with as many or more plate appearances as Madrigal.
The Cubs may already be preparing for Madrigal’s injury stint as Patrick Wisdom was noticeably not in the starting lineup for the Iowa Cubs on Monday night. Wisdom has been on a rehab assignment at Triple-A since last Thursday.
Wisdom has been out since the middle of last month, landing on the injured list with a sprained right wrist on June 17. Prior to IL stint, Wisdom was having a horrible time at the plate, going 13-for-92, slashing .141/.248/.293, with 4 home runs and a brutal 44.3 K% in 106 plate appearances since May 1.
I mean, you’d hope that the wrist issue wasn’t just a made up thing and that it was indeed the main reason for Wisdom’s struggles because by the looks of it, the Cubs might be bringing him back to take the majority of starts at third base until Madrigal is healthy again. It’s either him or Christopher Morel, but regardless of who takes over, there is going to be a dip in defense because Madrigal was doing a good job at the hot corner.
Hopefully Wisdom is healthy again and can get back to his April numbers or close to them anyway. Through the first month of the season, Wisdom posted a slash line of .250/.324/.641, with 10 home runs.
