Angels designate Nick Madrigal for assignment

Madrigal elected free agency from the Angels on Thursday rather than accepting an outright assignment to Triple-A Salt Lake. The 29-year-old infielder hit .273 (12-for-44) with no homers, two RBI, one stolen base and a 7/3 K/BB ratio over 52 plate appearances during his time with the Angels.

Rather than accepting an outright assignment to Triple-A Salt Lake, the 29-year-old infielder has opted to peddle his wares on the open market instead. Madrigal hit .273 (12-for-44) with zero homers, two RBI, one stolen base and a 7/3 K/BB ratio in 52 plate appearances during his brief time with the Angels.

Madrigal, 29, was designated for assignment on Monday as Jorge Soler returned from the injured list. He’ll return to an everyday role at the Triple-A level until another need arises with the Angels.

Peraza takes a seat after being involved in an awkward collision with teammate Jo Adell in shallow right field during Monday’s series opener. It’ll be Nick Madrigal taking over at second base in his absence.

Madrigal’s RBI hit was a grounder to second that the first baseman tried and failed to make a play on and on which the pitcher made no attempt to cover first. Madrigal then stole second afterwards for his first steal in two tries in 12 games since being called up. Madrigal is hitting the ball quite a bit harder than usual and yet has still struck out just twice in 39 plate appearances for the Angels. He might be on his way to reestablishing himself as a legitimate big leaguer, but it probably won’t be with enough homers and steals to make him much use outside of particularly deep formats.

He’s considered day-to-day. Nick Madrigal will start in his place at second base and will bat eighth for the Angels against Roki Sasaki and the Dodgers on Friday evening.

It was Madrigal’s fourth start in eight games since he was called up last week, and he’s now 6-for-15 in the span. Somewhat interesting is that Madrigal has hit balls 111.6 mph this spring and 113.6 mph in Triple-A this year. Previously, his hardest-hit ball was 106.9 mph for the Cubs in 2023. Maybe it’s enough to turn him back into a viable major leaguer, but he also has to stay healthy, which has been a big issue.

Madrigal gets the nod to join Los Angeles’ infield mix with Nolan Schanuel hitting the injured list with an ankle issue. The 29-year-old contact-oriented second baseman has plenty of big-league experience having appeared in 285 career games between the Cubs and White Sox since 2020. He doesn’t offer any semblance of over-the-fence power or stolen base upside at this stage of his career. He can be ignored in all fantasy formats.

The Angels thinned out their battle at second base on Saturday morning when they optioned Christian Moore and Kyren Paris to Triple-A Salt Lake and in the evening Nick Madrigal joined them. That leaves just Adam Frazier, Oswald Peraza and Vaughn Grissom remaining to fight it out. Madrigal performed well during the spring, hitting .333 (7-for-21) with three RBI.

The move paves a relatively unobstructed path for veteran Adam Frazier to open the year as the Angels’ starting second baseman. Technically, Oswald Peraza, Nick Madrigal and Vaughn Grissom remain in the mix but they’ve struggled this spring and make more sense in bench roles. Los Angeles took Moore with the eighth-overall pick back in 2024, one spot before Pittsburgh grabbed baseball’s current top prospect Konnor Griffin. The 23-year-old second baseman has hit just .198/.284/.370 with seven homers in 53 games at the highest level and has struggled to emerge as an everyday option.