Sox's Madrigal keeps spirits up after going down with separted shoulder

A 4-hit game at Kansas City on Sunday.

Two days later, an awkward slide at Milwaukee that Nick Madrigal admits "was probably a dumb play."

Talk about your highs and lows, Madrigal experienced both sensations in the near blink of an eye.

Just as the touted rookie was getting settled in as a major leaguer and showing why he's expected to be the White Sox's starting second baseman for years ahead, Madrigal decided to run from first base to third on Luis Robert's single against the Brewers Tuesday night.

Former Sox outfielder Avisail Garcia threw him out from center, and Madrigal's awkward slide into third base landed him on the 10-day injured list with a separated left shoulder.

"It was kind of a weird play," said Madrigal, the White Sox's first-round draft pick (No. 4 overall) in 2018. "Trying to take the extra base, just looking at it overall, it's just one of those things. I've done it a hundred times in my life, just kind of the competitiveness came out. This time, I kind of landed a little bit weird on my arm.

"Once I slid, I immediately knew what happened. My shoulder popped out a little bit."

The injury looked pretty serious when it happened, and Madrigal's facial expression as he was helped off the Miller Park field indicated he was in obvious distress.

But after general manager Rick Hahn said it could have been much worse and he should be back with the Sox by the end of the month, Madrigal is hoping to nudge up the return date.

"It's already gotten a lot better from yesterday," the 5-foot-8, 175-pounder said. "I'm moving around a lot better. We're kind of taking it day-by-day, but hopefully I'm back on the field in the next two weeks."

Danny Mendick has stepped right in and hit as the replacement second baseman, but you can already tell the White Sox are a better team when Madrigal is in the lineup.

"Prior to the slide, I think we were all real pleased with where he was at, giving you a nice, competitive at-bat, generally making good decisions on the bases and obviously being the defensive stalwart that we were expecting," Hahn said. "I know he's going to be disappointed, and we're certainly going to miss him here for a couple weeks. But hopefully it's only two, three weeks and he's able to continue to build off what he did in the first few games of his career."

"I've worked so hard for this moment and was excited for it," he said. "I wasn't too sure what the injury meant at the time, if it was season-ending or whatever it was. I had no idea. I was really just trying to stay positive.

"I was frustrated but I've always believed that God has a plan for everything. No matter if it's hard in the moment, I feel like everything will work out."