Jason Benetti did his best to give Nick Madrigal a nickname.
But it seems Madrigal's White Sox teammates have something else in mind besides "Nicky Two Strikes."
During the offseason, Madrigal — who's just 29 games into his major league career after debuting during the shortened 2020 season — told Our Chuck Garfien on the White Sox Talk Podcast that he had designs on joining baseball's elite 3,000-hit club.
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RELATED: Madrigal says joining 3,000-hit club is 'very reachable'
"I’ve seen a lot of great hitters in this league growing up and watching guys. The 3,000 mark is not easy at all, there’s very few people that do it. But I feel like that’s very reachable," he said. "I know that’s throwing a big statement out there, but I believe in myself and I know what it takes to play this game and I feel confident I can do that.
"I haven’t broke it down exactly by season, but I know it’s going to take a lot of getting on base."
Well, that lofty goal is certainly one worth pursuing, but the idea of it being "very reachable" for someone just 35 hits into his big league career has earned Madrigal some playful ridicule from his teammates.
Friday was Madrigal's birthday, and his White Sox teammates gifted him a T-shirt calling him "Mr. 3,000."
The Bernie Mac film from 2004 is not one of the more legendary baseball movies, but it had an applicable title in this case.
The White Sox seem intent on rebooting it, with Madrigal in the starring role.
MLB
"We saw it this morning, thought it was actually great, the design," manager Tony La Russa said. "The big concern — because he's a tough guy — there was a concern if he would take it personal or whether he would have a good time with it. And I think he understood it was all done with respect and a lot of team affection."
To be quite honest, these White Sox are no strangers to grandiose statements like Madrigal's. After all, Eloy Jiménez and Michael Kopech took turns calling each other Babe Ruth and Nolan Ryan a couple springs back. Jiménez called Luis Robert "the next Mike Trout" just last year.
Why can't Madrigal set some Hall-of-Fame goals, too?
Somebody save one of those T-shirts. Because if he gets to 3,000 hits one day, Cooperstown will have a pretty fun item to display.
"It's really a cute shirt," La Russa said. "It's very witty."
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