Nick Madrigal Injury Update

February 23rd, 2018. A day that will be lived in infamy by Oregon State Baseball fans. On this date against Ohio State, star 2nd baseman Nick Madrigal broke his wrist sliding into home plate in a win over the Buckeyes.

Since the injury, the Beavers have hardly skipped a beat. The team currently sits with an overall record of 20-2 including a record of 5-1 in conference play. The team has gone 14-2 without Madrigal in the lineup. Not to mention, the Beavs are the near consensus #1 college baseball team in the nation. Players all over the roster have stepped up in Madrigal’s absence, including infielder Andy Armstrong who has filled in admirably for Madrigal at 2nd during his absence. However, the team can’t wait to get Madrigal’s bat and glove back into the starting lineup.

Now, not too long after the injury, the public was notified of the type of injury as well as the timeline of recovery for Nick Madrigal. The timeline Madrigal shared with us was 4-6 weeks for his small fracture of the radial bone to heal. Now for those who are tracking, the 6-week mark that was given to us will coincide with the 1st game in next week’s series against the Arizona Wildcats.

The Gazette-Times has come out with an update that Nick has ditched a hard cast for a form-fitting splint that can be removed for physical therapy. Apparently, the pain has completely subsided for Madrigal, but his wrist is still stiff from weeks of inactivity. Joint stiffness is to be expected of someone who has been wearing a cast for the past month. Once Madrigal gets through some more physical therapy work as well as some practice and game action, Madrigal’s wrist will be back to normal.

Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

As for an official return date of Nasty Nick? That remains a bit vaguer.

When asked about his return date, Madrigal had this to say: “(The doctor) was real happy with the results he saw, so I think we are on schedule or ahead of schedule. It hopefully won’t be much longer until I can get back out there.” Madrigal then evaluated on an actual timeline for this return: “ I’m not too sure on a set date yet, but probably not the Utah series. It’s probably just a little too soon, but we’re going to have to see.”

It seemed expected that Madrigal would miss the series versus the Utah Utes. Now it’s only a matter of what series can we look forward to seeing #3 back out on the field. In this writer’s opinion, the soonest Madrigal may be available is next week’s series versus Arizona. Now take this opinion with a grain of salt, I have been wrong before (just look at my March Madness Bracket). Yet, it would be shocking to see Beaver Nation wait any longer than the series against Missouri State for Madrigal’s return.

When do you think Nick Madrigal will be back? Sound off in the comments section below!