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A belated season 2020 greetings from the UK , I'll finally be able to catch a game this evening (GMT)

Going back to 1990, the best #4 picks have been: - Ryan Zimmerman (38.2 WAR) - Alex Fernandez (28.5 WAR) - Kerry Wood (23.9 WAR) - Gavin Floyd (16.0 WAR) - Kevin Gausman (13.7 WAR) - Dmitri Young (12.5 WAR) - Kyle Schwarber (9.3 WAR) Only 5 made the All-Star team (and 3 of those were mediocre players in Young, Jeffrey Hammonds, and Jason Grilli). Only 3 ever had a season worth 4 WAR or above. The history of #4 picks is very unremarkable. And it's not like the picks since 2010 who haven't had much time to make an impact are exactly killing it either. Only McKay and Schwarber have seemingly amounted to anything and it's obviously too early to say anything on McKay. I can understand wanting a prospect with a higher ceiling at #4 but this idea that you're looking for a "generational hitter" is just being unrealistic.

He would probably be the best manager the Sox ever had right before his first game, and probably one of the biggest idiots ever to manage the Sox before the 5th inning.

This board is so odd at times. Gushing over big dollar free agent signings like Grandal and Encarnacion but can’t wait to hate on a young player like Madrigal. The people hating on Madrigal are likely the same people that called Moncada a bust because he struck out too much or Giolito a head case and not ready to pitch in the major leagues or Luis Robert’s power was overrated based on his 2018 minor league season. SMH

Why are you posting an article back in February?

Point is, it's easy to draft all-star players in later rounds- teams just haven't thought of doing it.

A mid-first round pick and a sandwich pick not panning out is not the indictment you think it is though

M4DRIG4L

Mendick looks like a guy who high school guys think looks like a guy who fucks

Rather he gets DFA so they don’t feel the urge to ever promote him again

Listen it’s a long seas... *producer in ear* Im being told it’s a short season

SUCK IT THRICE ROYALS!!!

Get a god damn win

Robert, Moncada, and Jimenez could conceivably hit 100-120 (in a full season) just between the three of them before you even get to guys like Abreu, Grandal, Anderson, Encarnacion, etc.

I would say that's a lack of understanding how the baseball draft works.

To the haters Sox are still undefeated with Madrigal as a starter. He and Jimenez combined for five hits today.

As with Giolito, let's just enjoy the success of one game without worrying too much about the next one. He's been the best hitter in his class ever since the last two years of high school/Team USA, the best pure college hitter at Oregon State, he's a smart hitter and will make the adjustments he needs to. He's the last player I'm really worried about of the young core going forward.

m4drig4l

4 hit Madrigal!

HOLY SHIT HE DID IT

Remember yesterday when you said Madrigal had "serious issues" and couldn't play at the MLB level? LOL

At least Palka strikes out there.

So basically you have nothing of substance that won’t translate.

So you went from calling him Tony Gwynn to a bust in the span of 10 PA @Jack Parkman that sounds about right.

OMG, it’s two fucking games. And the first two games of his entire major league career where is likely pressing. But please continue to ignore his minor league stats where he made contact AND got on base and focus entirely on 8 plate appearances. And calling him a 50 grade runner is ludicrous.

Eloy looks so much more comfortable up there than last year as a rookie. You can see it in his approach and the way he just lets the ball come to him and hits what is there. He did it in spurts last year, but he has pretty much looked like that in every AB so far this year. In complete control. And I don't know what to say about Lou B?b. The guy is just incredible. I have not witnessed a rookie on the White Sox that looked this impressive their first 6 games. I was around for Frank Thomas as a rookie but waaaay to young to know what was going on. Robert has way better plate skills than I thought he would at this stage in his career. He can hit to all fields with extreme power, can lay off some nasty breaking stuff, hit pretty much any hanger out there, and the jumps he gets in CF are as good as advertised. Very excited to see Eloy, Robert & Moncada for awhile.

Luis Robert is the most impressive young talent I've ever seen since I've been watching the White Sox. It's a damn good thing to see!

To all the haters, the team is undefeated with Madrigal in the lineup. He combined with Jimenez for four hits and four RBIs tonight. ?

should get that ball for nicky, since it's his last big league hit

Wow he fuckin did it! ?

Madrigal running full speed look like he should have the road runner / Wile E. Coyote leg whirlwind animation underneath him lol

“But the exit velocity of madrigals three hits today have been really slow, he’s not going to be a good hitter.” ”He can’t keep that type of luck up.” ”what a wasted pick.”

You can't stop Nick Madrigal, you can only hope to contain him..lol

Definitely these minor league bloops won’t translate to the majors

I like Castellanos a lot. Always have. But Edwin will be fine and put up another .850ish OPS

I think it's safe to assume we've all hated Delmonico for a lot longer than just today

Abreu is such garbage with RISP this year

Abreu has been really good defensively so far this season.

Please come back Mazara

8 games Jack, 8 games

I get that. It's a White Sox message board and any criticsim of a White Sox player will not be received well. I've actually been holding back on a lot of my thoughts.

Mardigal also completely obliterated AA pitching. You know, the place where Sox hitting prospects go to die.

I think this is a fair assessment. I'm probably guilty of it too. The narrative and the makeup of the player obfuscated some of the tools and projection for me. That being said, I sure hope he pans out into a useful piece, even if not a superstar. It just gets tiring reading some of the vitriol spit at him on this forum. It sometimes feels like people want him to fail and that's kind of a bummer.

So again, this is all based on 8 plate appearances, got it.

Tim is out.

Anyway, Madrigal needs chewing tobacco to evolve to his final form. Or at least Big League Chew, which would be smarter. And Ron wouldn't b****. Also, we have Big League Chew because of Nellie: https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ct-spt-big-league-chew-inventor-haugh-20180524-story.html

Let’s begin this conversation after he’s had 500 at bats, revisit the conversation after 1,000 at bats, and then draw some conclusions after he’s had 1,500 at bats. Can’t have a meaningful discussion after his first two games. I will say this... in 2018, he hit under .200 in rookie ball for his debut. In 2019 he had 1 hit in his first 14 plate appearances at high A. That same year he had 2 hits in his first 18 AAA trips to the plate. His history shows him to be a competitive, hard nosed, don’t give up, driven type of player with an ability to provide value to his teams in many areas. My guess is still that when the time comes to discuss his first full season in the show, we’ll be happy he’s growing into a long term role on the south side of Chicago.

Eloy has mastered the 1st person contraction as well as the hanging breaking ball:

First time in MLB history the first four hitters in a line-up were Cuban-born. Cool fact of the day.