Chicago White Sox: Give Eloy Jimenez a chance in left-field

The Chicago White Sox need to be careful when evaluating Eloy Jimenez defensively.

The Chicago White Sox has a very interesting situation brewing with Eloy Jimenez‘s status as an outfielder. He has shown so far in his young career that he has absolutely no instincts when it comes to playing a good left field. He doesn’t know how to stop before running into the wall or jumping into the netting which probably hurts his back when he slams into the armrests. Jumping into the wall has made him look like he is going for a karate chop into it and that, amongst other things has caused him injury.

This is something that absolutely needs to be coached out of him. We would rather see a ball be foul or even a home run for the opposition than see Jimenez get really hurt. These are things that could cause season-ending injuries and the White Sox simply can’t afford that from him.

He isn’t good defensively but the White Sox still needs him bad because he is one of their very best hitters. He is booming into one of the best power hitters in the league and it won’t be long until it is universally recognized. The White Sox could easily make him a designated hitter and just call it a day but that might not be as good of an idea as it sounds.

Sometimes when you take a player that young and make them a DH, it could be detrimental to their approach to baseball. When you are a DH, you need a certain mindset. You aren’t in the game as much as the eight other guys who go out there and play defense for the whole game while hitting. Jimenez may or may not be able to handle being a designated hitter and that is for the White Sox to figure out at some point.

For now, it is clearly the best option to keep him out there and see if they can get him to develop his skills and improve. He is a tremendous hitter and it would be terrible to see them ruin that for the sake of making him change his position. He deserves that chance to get better.