Luis Robert, Nick Madrigal and Andrew Vaughn Lit The World On Fire Last Night
Ho hum, another night, another round of dominating performances out of the White Sox top 3 prospects Luis Robert, Nick Madrigal and Andrew Vaughn, the former of which are currently blocked at the big league level by Adam Engel, Ryan Cordell and Yolmer Sanchez.
After a slow-ish start where the BABIP gods smited Nick Madrigal for his promotion to AAA Charlotte, he finally found some grass:
On the evening he went 4-6 and on the season he’s slashing .304/.370/.402/.772 with 31 SBs in 42 attempts, a wRC+ around 130, a K rate of 2.7% (12 Ks in 444 PAs) and only 3 errors. But he is BLOCKED by Yolmer Sanchez who is sporting a 68 wRC+, sub .300 OBP, .073 ISO, and .317 slugging percentage. What the fuck ever.
Then we had LuBob doing LuBob things:
Going 4-5 with a single, double, triple, and a walk. On the season he’s slashing .339/.392/.621/1.013 with 24 dingers, 36 stolen bases in 45 attempts and around a 165 wRC+ through 3 levels of MiLB.
The shitty thing about him is that he’s BLOCKED by Adam Engel and whoever the fuck else they’ve been trotting out in CF right now. What the fuck ever.
But you just love to see it out of these two. Now I had extreme questions on how Madrigal would adapt to AA pitching and just wrote a blog on Monday on how Robert was struggling before last night. I would like to make this loud and clear because it pisses people off:
I state things as I see them. I said Luis Robert stunk over his previous 10 games because he did. I said he’d struggle at the MLB level right now because I think he’s too pull happy and won’t be able to hit big league breaking pitches. I backed this up with stats and visuals of how/why. That does NOT mean I don’t think he’ll be a superstar, because I do think that. But that doesn’t mean I think he won’t experience failure and need to adjust. That’s part of the growth process. And as for Madrigal? I was terrified that he wouldn’t be able to get the ball out of the infield against AA pitching. I was totally incorrect. I admit that, but it was an honest concern. I will always present honest concerns when I have them. It doesn’t make me a pessimist, it doesn’t mean I think I’m smarter than everyone, it means I don’t think 100% of all things White Sox prospects are rainbows and gum drops. I love being wrong in these instances.
Moving on…
… Andrew Vaugh is dominating HiA already:
going 2-3 with two doubles, and a walk last night. He’s slashing .297/.412/.486/.897 with 4 home runs and 22 walks to 27 strike outs through 167 plate appearances in his first stint in pro ball. I love everything about this kid’s swing. It reminds me of a better version of Javy Baez’ swing. He has so more torque built up in his wrists, but at the same time it’s controlled and will result in a ton of (HARD) contact, which Baez can get away from. His approach is immaculate too; he’s almost at a 1-1 BB/K clip right now. He has been BABIP’d to death a little bit so far, but his power will come in spades. He will take over for Abreu eventually, maybe as early as next year with Abreu shifting to DH full time.
I’m salivating thinking of taking out Engel/Cordell, Skole/whoever they’re DHing and Yolmer Sanchez and inserting these three into the lineup. Even if they’re just average, average is light years better than those three and will equate to more wins. But they won’t be. Once they get their feet wet, which I wish would be happening right now in Chicago, they’re going to pair for a filthy top of the order. Madrigal to Robert to Moncada to Vaughn to Eloy. Goddddamnnn it’s going to be fun.
The rebuild’s tombstone will read this:
December 6, 2019 – September 29, 2019