The White Sox entered their series vs. the Minnesota Twins missing the most potent bat in the lineup. It was announced before the game that Jose Abreu would miss the entire series due to ankle inflammation, dealing a crushing blow to the offense.
Some forgot to tell the offense that as they peppered the Twins for 16 runs and 18 hits. The biggest hit of the night came from the most unlikely source. The 5’8″ Nick Madrigal.
In the top of the third inning, Madrigal ripped a four-seam fastball 389 feet to deep left-center field for the first home run of his Major League career. Madrigal didn’t realize it was gone until he rounded second base and had trouble containing a smile as he touched home. A hero’s welcome awaited him in the visitor’s dugout. The victim on the mound was left-hander J.A. Happ whose misery against the White Sox continued.
It took 245 plate appearances but, Nick Madrigal finally did it. The best part about the home run? It came on a 1-2 count. Fitting for a man nicknamed “Nicky Two Strikes.” Madrigal is known for his excellent bat control and high contact rate. He is not known for his power. In three seasons at Oregon State, he hit a total of eight home runs. During his time in the minor leagues, he hit just four. Scouts grade him as a 20 on the 20-80 power scale.
His first-ever homer, and — of course — with two strikes.
Congrats, @NickMadrigal_3! pic.twitter.com/yC35Ex4PSN
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) May 18, 2021
The ball left his bat with an exit velocity of 99.9 mph. Not bad for a player who doesn’t drive the ball very often. He only has one hit this season with an exit velocity of over 100 mph. His average exit velocity ranks in the 2nd percentile of the MLB, which is poor, to say the least.
Madrigal stated he wasn’t concerned with when his first home run would come. He knows what he does well and, that is making contact on an elite level.
“If I didn’t hit one for the rest of the year, I feel like I’m still contributing to the team in a lot of different ways,” Madrigal said. “But I mean it’s still nice to get one out of the way.”
That is what makes this home run so memorable. It came in a pitcher’s park, against a division rival and when nobody was expecting it. You could tell his teammates were shocked by their exuberant reaction. They even retrieved the ball with haste and presented it to Madrigal in the dugout.
The home run was just the second of three hits on the night for Nick Madrigal. He sandwiched it between a single to right field in the first inning then a double ripped down the line in the fourth. Despite leading the team in triples, Madrigal was unable to notch another one in his final three plate appearances to complete the cycle. He did add a walk to his stat line along, with three runs scored.
Madrigal said before the season that he hopes to end his career with over 3,000th hits. If he reaches that feat, he will be hard-pressed to find a hit as memorable as his first home run.
“I couldn’t help but smile, Madrigal said after the game. “I tried to act like I hit a million of those before, kind of stone-cold face, but I couldn’t hold it in.”
