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The Chicago White Sox are in the midst of a brutal season. They are mired in last place in the American League Central division with the worst record in baseball. In addition to their brutal play on the field, they have had a slew of injuries that have kept them from playing anything close to competitive baseball on a consistent basis. Those injuries have impacted outfielder-designated hitter Eloy Jimenez, who is clearly one of their most impactful players.
Jimenez has had multiple nagging injuries this season and he has missed 43 of Chicago's first 89 games. The big slugger has been sidelined with an adductor strain on the left side and he also had a left hamstring strain that caused him to miss time.
Like most athletes, Jimenez does not like to be categorized as injury prone. But the description would seem to be accurate. He played in 122 games during his rookie year in 2019, and he also played in 120 games last year. Those are the only two seasons he has exceed the 100-game mark.
Three other season saw him play 55, 55 and 84 games. One of those seasons was the Covid-shortened season of 2020.
“I don’t even know they call me that, and I don’t care because I know what I’m doing,” Jiménez said. “I know it’s easy to point at people when they want to be in your place.
“For real, I don’t care what they are saying because at the end of the day, I know what I’ve been doing, what I’m doing. And it happened to me, but I’m not the first or the last it’s going to happen [to].”
Jimenez can display eye-catching power when he is in the lineup
Jimenez belted 31 home runs, drove in 79 runs and scored 69 runs in 2019. Many of his home runs that year were long tape-measure shots that excited the White Sox fan base.
In the ensuing years, he has blasted quite a few 400-plus-foot home runs, but they have not come with the frequency White Sox fans and management have wanted to see. The most he has had since his rookie season is 18.
Shockingly, Jimenez has hit just five home runs so far this season. He has been troubled by a high ground ball rate (58.6 percent) and a low fly-ball rate (14.3 percent).
The outfielder believes that his power will return, and that it's just a matter of time.
“I’ve done it before, and I know it’s going to happen,” Jiménez said. “After you come back, especially when I was playing [on an injury rehab assignment] in Arizona, it’s way different down there.”
Jimenez set a goal for himself that he would play in 150 games this season, and that number is well out of reach in early July. He continues to put in the work with the goal of staying healthy and remaining in the lineup, but he admits that the frequency of his injuries have frustrated him to this point.
He is hoping that the rest of the season will see him remain in the lineup and allow him to rebuild his power numbers. White Sox management and the team's fans are hoping for the same outcome.
