White Sox leave Madrigal off season-opening roster

Nick Madrigal had one goal during the White Sox's three-week summer camp.

When the 30-man roster was released on Thursday, a day before the season opener, Madrigal wanted to be on it.

He was not, for now.

When the Sox take the field against the Twins to begin the most usual season in major-league history, Leury Garcia will be the second baseman.

Madrigal was reassigned to the White Sox's taxi squad training at Boomers Stadium in Schaumburg, as was fan favorite Yermin Mercedes and seven other players.

“In the end, we felt the lineup was stronger and overall we were going to be more productive with Leury at second base providing us that switch-hitting presence,” Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. “I know the overall numbers for the Cactus League going back to Glendale (Ariz.) and the three (exhibition) games here aren't extremely impressive for Nicky, but he certainly much more looked the part over the last three weeks.

“To his credit, he came in ready to compete and we still think the world of him and believe he's going to help us at some point over the summer.”

The Sox are moving into the season with 16 pitchers, including rookies Jimmy Lambert and Codi Heuer. Two other promising right-handers, Dane Dunning and Tyler Johnson, were sent to Schaumburg.

Carson Fulmer, the White Sox's first-round draft pick (No. 8 overall) in 2015, was designated for assignment. If he's not added to another big-league team's 30-man roster, Fulmer could rejoin the Sox and report to Boomers Stadium.

“It's unfortunate, obviously, because Carson is a tremendous kid, an extremely hard worker,” Hahn said. “He's filled, or attempted to fill, a variety of different roles for us over the years with varying degrees of success. We'll see in the coming days (where) he winds up.

“We're not only rooting for him because he's such a good kid, but we also know there's more there and once it clicks for him he's able to help somebody at the big-league level.”