Madrigal activated from injured list, hoping to find rhythm at plate
Second baseman Nick Madrigal is back with the Cubs. He was activated before Tuesday's game with Milwaukee after a short rehab assignment in Iowa and being out since May 9 with back soreness.
He wasn't in Tuesday's starting lineup, but went 1-for-2 after entering in the fifth. Before the game, he talked about a plan to get his rhythm back at the plate. He was hitting .203 when he went on the injured list.
"For me, it's pretty simple. You've got to have something in the box, whether it's your hands moving," Madrigal said. "For me, it's always been my hips swaying back and forth. But you've got to have something. You can't be standing there just still.
"Usually if you're standing still, you're starting to think a little bit in the box and just kind of grip the bat too tight and a number of things. It sounds pretty simple, but through a long season, some things you just don't notice."
Madrigal said he's had plenty of time to reflect on his approach at the plate during the injury. So he's hoping for better results in his first season with the Cubs.
"I'm not reinventing anything," he said. "I'm confident in who I am, but there's definitely been a lot of time to reflect and watch video. I feel I'm in a good spot right now."
He played in just two games for the Triple A Iowa Cubs, going 1-for-7 at the plate.
"I think there was maybe a week-and-a-half or two-week period where we could not figure out what was going on," he said. "The back was not responding well to any soft tissue treatment or different exercises. We were almost going backward, it felt like. But at the last second we were able to kind of get a grip on what exactly it was. We did some range of motion stuff and it immediately loosened up on me, within a couple days."
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