JUSTgottaBELIEVE

I’ve always thought of Madrigal’s most likely outcome as Placido Polanco. Placido wasn’t a “superstar” by any means but he was a damn fine ballplayer.

And Dansby Swanson and Mickey Moniak were recent first overall picks. What’s your point?

Everyone talks about Madrigal having a low ceiling. I look at it the other way. The only thing he doesn’t do well is hit for power. If he starts hitting 30-40 doubles and 10-15 homers in a few years ala Whit Merrifield, he’s an absolute monster.

Like Babe Ruth Schwarber

Was Kyle Schwarber an example of shooting for the stars at #4? I know most Sox fans were enamored with that pick. He hits a ton of bombs and yet he’s averaged ~2.5 WAR across 3.5 seasons and I think last year is about the best season you could ask from him.

Thing is, it’s not unreasonable to think Madrigal could end his career as #1 or #2 on that list. A consistent 2-3 WAR player for 10-12 years. Hard to be upset with that.

If Madrigal hits .300 for his career, he’s going to have a very lengthy and successful career. He should be in the mid .300s for OBP with a .300 average so you’d be looking at a ~.700 OPS guy without any significant improvement in power. With his defense and baserunning that’s an easy 2-3 WAR/year average. If that’s your 9th place hitter, you’ve got a damn good lineup...

On pace for 333. It’s going to be close!

He got a hit!

And of course Delmonico is up

If he hits .273, he’s a 2 WAR player minimum. Because .273 will translate to a 650 OPS minimum (over a full season of at bats) and his fielding and baserunning are great.

And makes third easy on the hit by Lubo

And all of a sudden he’s hitting .273 just like that

All he does is hit

But all he does is hit grounders!

Yup

Why is Delmonico still on this roster? He’s absolutely worthless.

Very sad if true. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Grandal signing but I couldn’t imagine ever rooting against him now that he’s playing for the team I cheer for. Manny Machado on the other hand...

To be fair, if Madrigal started juicing and also knew what pitch was coming, he’d probably hit for a >900 OPS too

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

Pnoles tweet aside, DH has been a really poor performing position for the Sox since they traded Thome a long time ago. Hoping EE bucks that trend but he’s off to a very slow start to the season.

Small stuff but I like the fact that’s he an intelligent player too. Team has a number of great athletes but seems to be lacking in the baseball IQ department at times.

He can’t be worse than Delmonico. And I’m actually looking forward to a plus defender at 2b (outside of Yolmer it’s been awhile!) along with someone that doesn’t strike out much and can hit to all fields.

Huge win. 1-5 would have been a disastrous start in a short season.

But will they be able to move him to third base let alone home?