The Angels announced that outfielder Jorge Soler has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list. Infielder Nick Madrigal has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move. The Halos added that first baseman Trey Mancini, who was designated for assignment last week, elected free agency after being outrighted to Triple-A Salt Lake.
The Angels signed a minor league deal with the 29-year-old Madrigal in the offseason. He was added to the big league roster in late May. At that time, the club had recently lost both Yoán Moncada and Nolan Schanuel to the injured list, depriving them of their top corner infield options. That left Vaughn Grissom as the regular at first while guys like Donovan Walton and Denzer Guzman covered third.
Madrigal was in a part-time bench role. He performed fine enough in a small sample of playing time. He made 52 plate appearances with a .273/.385/.295 line. Seven walks and a hit-by-pitch inflated the middle number of that triple slash, helping his wRC+ creep up to 101 for the year. However, Madrigal doesn’t provide much thump with the bat and that was also the case here. He notched 12 hits but 11 were singles and the other was a double.
His offensive profile is that of a very contact-heavy guy who doesn’t have much power. In 992 trips to the plate in his career, his 5% walk rate and 8.9% strikeout rate are both subpar. He has a .274/.326/.342 line and 88 wRC+ in that time. He showed a bit more ability to take a walk since joining the Angels but in a small sample. He’s a solid defender and can steal a few bags but isn’t going to provide much from the batter’s box.
The Halos got Schanuel back from the IL a few weeks ago but Soler went the other way with an oblique strain. Now that Soler is ready to come back, Madrigal has been squeezed out. Madrigal has five years of service time and therefore can’t be optioned without his consent, so he has been removed from the 40-man entirely. DFA limbo can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Angels could take five days to see if there’s any trade interest, but they could also put him on the wire sooner than that. If he clears waivers, he will have the right to elect free agency.
More to come.
