Nick Madrigal, 2021 Fantasy Outlook

“Is everyone still a rookie?” That’s a good question, Left Side of My Brain. “What is a rookie?” Shut up, Right Side of My Brain. Ya know, sometimes I’m very left side of my brain, sometimes I’m very right side of my Brian. This brings me to today’s rookie, Nick Madrigal, who is yet another guy who I swore lost his rookie eligibility, and, honestly, he might’ve in real baseball, but he only had 103 ABs this year, and that’s well under the 130 ABs to lose rookie eligibility, according to me, so here we are again. This does give me a few less guys to go over when I do my 2021 fantasy baseball rankings, so that’s a nice bonus for me. “Why wait until later for what you can do today,” is what I scribble over and over again in a notepad as I procrastinate. Madrigal would’ve lost his rookie eligibility if he didn’t get hurt early on this past season, and he would’ve competed for a batting title, one of many competitions for said title for Madrigal in his career. Honestly, I can’t figure out a way to project him for anything less than “potential batting title champion.” Been a while since I’ve said that about anyone. Maybe dating back to the great Tony Gwynn. What will really make Madrigal sing? Less of that terrible Gregorian chant singing garbage. Wait, I think I googled ‘Madrigal singing’ and that returned faulty results. So, what can we expect from Nick Madrigal for 2021 fantasy baseball?

Psyche! Before we get to the post, just wanted to announce we’re gonna do a way-too-early NFBC draft. It’s 15 teams, no waivers, slow draft, 2 hours between picks, $150 to sign up, and $1,000 to winner, $350 to 2nd place and 3rd gets their money back. There’s also overall prizes of $30,000, and more. Why draft so early? Right now, we’re getting a chance to form ADP vs. being slaves to it. Also, what the hey. If you prefer to play against Donkey Teeth, his league will be signing up when mine fills. To signup, click this rather long link I’m writing right now. Anyway, Nick Madrigal 2021 fantasy:

A .330 average. How’s that for starters? Amazing, but starters no longer hit in the American League. For Nick Madrigal that feels like the floor, but I just can’t believe it. Last year in 103 ABs, he went 8/0/11/.340/2. His ISO was .029, and I cackled. I mean, yes, it’s a small sample, but he’s not far off from what we saw this past season. His Launch Angle is 4.1. Homeboy’s about to hit 125-foot singles for 162 games, isn’t he? His Launch Angle is similar to the best comp to him:  David Fletcher. That makes Madrigal, Fletch 2: Fletch Lives. Oddly enough, they both have 84-ish MPH exit velocity last year and one averaged 128 feet on his drives (not joking) and one averaged 127 feet. Yoenis Cespedes has nearly as many feet on his legs. Is there any way to be even more floored about how yawnstipating and comparative the underlying numbers are? Let’s try! Fletcher had 0.4% barrels per plate appearance and Madrigal had 0.0%, i.e., Madrigal had zero, and Fletcher had one. Anyhoo! Both can hit .300, because they’re Slap and Pickle hitters, but, unlike Fletcher, Madrigal has no power whatsoever but should be much faster. Also, both should be hitting leadoff. Should is key word in both of those instances. Madrigal has legit competition for the leadoff spot, and hasn’t shown the ability to steal bases with his speed. I mean, he’s done it. Four steals in about a month of Triple-A, but caught three times. Not a great percentage. In all, Madrigal feels like he’s a lock for a great average and no power, and a strong maybe on runs and steals. It’s not a terrible late one category filler flyer (say that fast 117 times!). For 2021, I’ll give Nick Madrigal projections of 66/2/46/.318/16 in 517 ABs with a chance for more on speed and runs. By the by, I saw Steamer projected Madrigal for seven homers and I let out another strong, guttural cackle.