The White Sox suffered a pair of potentially alarming injuries in their game against the Brewers on Tuesday, per tweets from James Fegan of The Athletic and Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion and second baseman Nick Madrigal departed early with left shoulder problems. The team will reevaluate both players Wednesday.
Encarnacion was one of several key offseason pickups for the White Sox, who signed him to a one-year, $12 million deal in free agency. At the time, they surely expected the eight-time 30-home run hitter to continue as a powerful force in their uniform. That hasn’t happened in the early going, as the 37-year-old has slashed an unimposing .200/.250/.300 with one homer in his first 33 plate appearances this season. That’s obviously not a large enough sample size to pass judgment, however, and there’s plenty of time for Encarnacion to get on track if he’s healthy enough to do so. Chicago replaced him with Zack Collins on Tuesday.
Madrigal, meanwhile, was only in his fifth major-league game before he exited. The recently promoted 23-year-old, who is regarded as one of baseball’s top prospects, got off to a .294/.333//.294 start in 18 PA before his injury. Chicago called on Danny Mendick to fill in for Madrigal at the keystone.
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