“I’m excited to be around the big league staff and all of my friends who have been in the big leagues.”
That statement came from Pirates prospect Bligh Madris, who recently got invited to be a part of the big league spring training.
Having a prospect be a part of big league spring training gives them more experience than actual gameplay. Madris may be a different situation; with the major league outfield not what you call set; we could see a guy like Madris in the potential fold.
At his age 26 season, Madris finds himself right on the cusp of glory, having finished the 2021 season in Triple-A Indy and put up some decent numbers between both Double-A and the aforementioned Triple-A.
The Las Vegas native posted a .267/.353/.417 slash line, along with a decent OPS of .770. Madris showed improvement in a lot of key categories during the 2021 campaign, including a career-high in RBIs (56), walks (47), and OBP (.353).
Some advanced stats are flattering for Madris as well. When you look at Madris’ advanced stats in Triple-A, his WRC+ was 111, wOBA .347, and a career-high in line drives hit at 58. Age is always going to be a factor, but as we all know, there are late bloomers, *cough *cough Jacob Stallings.
Coming from a relatively small school in Colorado Mesa, Madris knows a thing or two about being under the radar and tagged as not a “top prospect.” With that in mind, Madris wanted to make some things clear.
“I’m looking forward to proving to people that I belong in the bigs,” said Madris. “You don’t always have to be a big time prospect to help a team win in the big leagues. Times are changing in this organization and Pirates fans should be excited for years to come.”
With the implementation of the DH and both corner outfield spots being a question mark, a guy like Madris could get a prime opportunity to prove that very statement he made.
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**John Dreker: Pirates Announce Updated Spring Training Schedule
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