It only took three games for Chicago White Sox designated hitter Eloy Jimenez to get injured.
Jimenez left Sunday's game in the sixth inning with left adductor soreness. He appeared to pull up as he was running down to first.
Eloy Jiménez gingerly returns to the dugout following a sixth-inning bounce out. Looks like he pulled up a bit midway through his run toward first.
— Vinnie Duber (@VinnieDuber) March 31, 2024
Manager Pedro Grifol was unable to provide an update on how much time Eloy will miss. Jimenez suffered a similar injury in the minors in 2018 and was out two weeks.
Pedro Grifol said Eloy Jiménez has a left adductor strain. He suffered a similar injury in 2018 in Triple-A. There’s no word on severity yet, but Jiménez sat for two weeks for his adductor strain in 2018.
— James Fegan (@JRFegan) March 31, 2024
Death, taxes, and Jimenez getting injured are the three known certainties in life.
Eloy not being available is a big reason it is time for the Chicago White Sox to move on from him after the season, if not sooner.
He has only played in 120 games or more twice during his five previous seasons. 122 games are his career high and that came during his rookie season in 2019. That is when he showed a ton of promise when he belted 31 home runs and his slugging percentage was .513.
Outside of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, injuries have limited him to 55 games in 2021, 84 in 2022, and 120 in 2022.
The other reason it is time to give up on the idea that Jimenez is going to pan out is his inability to consistently put the ball in the air.
He has hit 44 home runs over the past three seasons after he hit 45 combined home runs between 2019 and 2020. He had a .441 slugging percentage in 2023. His average exit velocity was 90.9 mph last season. That was down from 92.8 in 2022.
Eloy was driving the ball well in spring training and that hope was that would carry over into a strong start to the season. Maybe, he could finally have a breakout season where he stays healthy and builds up some trade value. We could even dare to dream that he would finally prove he could be a vital piece of this rebuild, the Chris Getz version.
Instead, he went 2-for-11 in the opening series against Detroit and seems destined for his traditional trip to the injured list.
Also, while I couldn't stress enough that it's just the second game of the season, Eloy Jiménez's second game of the season neatly summed up everything he needs to do less of. https://t.co/K97M7Ewpjg
— Jim Margalus (@SoxMachine) March 31, 2024
Jimenez's baseball sense has never been great, and his plate discipline is nearly non-existent. Plus, he is a terrible defender. The injury history makes his trade value nearly nothing. The only thing Eloy does well is still tease us with his potential.
Eloy Jimenez is useless unfortunately. Always hurt, expensive and just a low baseball IQ. The #WhiteSox couldn’t get anyone to take him at his salary number all winter.
— James Fox (@JamesFox917) March 31, 2024
Hurt a lot, cannot field, consistently swings at everything, and struggles to hit the ball hard means it is unlikely he will ever reach his immense potential.
If Eloy was still in his early 20s, it might be worth seeing if he can return in two weeks and regain his power stroke. He is 27 and it is clear his body is incapable of handling the rigors of a 162-game season. He has a $16 million team option for next season. Since he is rarely available on the field, it makes sense that the club option should not be available to him.