Eloy Jimenez will make another stride in his return to the majors.
The White Sox announced this morning that the 24-year-old outfielder will be transferred to Triple-A Charlotte beginning on Tuesday. The move comes after a brief two-game stint with the High-A Winston-Salem Dash over the weekend.
Jimenez, who served as the DH in his first rehab game on Saturday, went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. On Sunday, he played in left field – where he committed a fielding error – and also reached base safely in each of his first three-plate appearances. Combine everything and that’s good for a weekend slash of .429/.500/.857 (3-for-7) counting the home run, two RBI, and a walk. Obviously, it’s an incredibly small sample size, but we all deserve a little something to be positive about.
Triple-A Charlotte will now be home to Eloy for roughly the next two weeks. Though the White Sox haven’t provided a definitive timeline or target date, the maximum minor-league rehab time for a position player is 20 days. Do the math and assuming all goes well, that puts a major league return somewhere before the end of the month.
Jimenez, who will enter into his third big league season, is recovering from surgery for a ruptured left pectoral tendon. The injury was sustained during a late March spring training game as the left fielder was attempting to rob a home run. When first being diagnosed, the organization set the recovery timeline at five to six months, leading many to believe Eloy would miss a majority of the regular season. Thankfully, that’s no longer the case.
One thing to keep an eye on over these next few weeks is where Eloy spends his time in the field. We saw him at both DH and left field with Winston-Salem, leading us to believe he’ll continue to see action in the outfield at Charlotte. Of course with the Sox, left field has been held down incredibly well by Andrew Vaughn, and Tony La Russa has already mentioned that Eloy could see significant time as the team’s designated hitter.
Given Jimenez’s rocky past in the playing field, a move to the DH slot would only make sense. The injury to catcher Yasmani Grandal just presents an interesting wrinkle on things, as he too will likely need to spend games as the DH upon his return from a torn knee tendon.
Plenty of storylines for us all to follow over the next few weeks and months! Be sure to keep it locked on our social media @SoxOn35th and right here at SoxOn35th.com for further updates.
Featured Photo: Laura Wolff Photography/Charlotte Knights
It’s difficult to imagine Eloy replacing Vaughn in left field since Andrew has been better than simply capable in playing the outfield position. I expect Vaughn will own left field in both the near and long term future. Eloy will be relocated to right field where the glove placed on his left hand better accommodates chasing fly balls along the right field foul line. After Luis returns, Engel will become the fourth outfielder playing almost every game as a substitute at all three positions.
With no setbacks at AAA, Eloy Jimenez should be back with the White Sox no later than July 28th. I’d wager he will be in the lineup even sooner. Jimenez will be one significant addition ahead of the July 30th trade deadline. Luis Robert has resumed baseball activities in Arizona and should be seeing his own minor league rehab assignment in the very near future.