Eloy Jimenez has shown some of the promise he was hyped up to have with the Chicago White Sox this season, but he has also struggled at some points. That being said, he is currently in the midst of a nice two-week stretch.
Eloy Jimenez has given Chicago White Sox fans hope for the future this season with many seeing the type of star he could potentially become.
Jimenez, 22, has been particularly good of late as, in his last 15 games, the outfielder is 18-for-60 (.300) with three home runs, nine RBI, and nine runs scored.
That includes his solid performance on Saturday against the Atlanta Braves in which he went 3-for-5 with an RBI.
On the year, Jimenez is hitting .247/.297/.459 with 22 homers and 54 RBI to give himself a 97 OPS+.
However, his overall value is lower right now because his defense has been significantly below average in left field, with -10 DRS and a -4.7 UZR in 773 innings at the position, according to FanGraphs.
That has relegated his total value to a 0.4 fWAR, despite solid offensive numbers.
The simplest way to fix that situation would be to simply move him to DH long-term, but at the same time, the goal should be to not relegate a 22-year-old to that spot so early in his career.
In that case, the places he clearly needs to improve are his range in the outfield as well as his walk rate/cutting down on strikeouts.
Currently, he has a 6.3% walk rate and a 27.2% strikeout rate which are respectable numbers, but if he wants to become a true star in this league, increasing the first number and reducing the second could go a long way in that.
Defensively, he could very well improve just by gaining more experience as even players heralded as good defenders in the minor leagues, struggle early on in the majors as everything is different at the major league level.
For all we know, Jimenez is just taking time to adjust and he will be an above-average outfielder next season.
On bright side also, Jimenez had the second-best month of his career in August, slashing .281/.305/.456 with five home runs and 15 RBI.
The Chicago White Sox will hope to see more of that from Eloy Jimenez and continued improvement in the month of September going into next season.