(670 The Score) White Sox slugger Eloy Jimenez was an everyday player in his first two MLB seasons. On multiple occasions, he has expressed his desire to be the team’s regular left fielder rather than be moved to designated hitter. Too often, he has tromped around the outfield in clumsy fashion and put his health at risk.
With all that in mind, NBC Sports Chicago analyst Steve Stone had strong comments to share for Jimenez as he begins a rehab assignment at Class-A Winston-Salem on Friday – nothing in this 2021 season is about you or any individual on this team. Every decision made by Jimenez and White Sox officials needs to further the effort to win the World Series, because this is a precious chance.
If all goes well on his rehab assignment, Jimenez (pectoral) figures to be in line to return to the White Sox in late July or early August.
“Honestly, they would love to see Eloy contribute,” Stone said on the Bernstein & Rahimi Show. “But this team in the long run doesn’t care how much Eloy contributes. They care about winning the World Series this year. That is their primary goal. Eloy is going to fit into it rather late, and he can help this team get across the finish line. But the No. 1 priority of this team is not what’s best for Eloy. The No. 1 priority of this team … is winning this year. And if Eloy is one of the tools to do that, that’s great. And if he’s not, well they’re going to after it and try to win without him. Because they’re doing a pretty good job without him to this point. That’s where he has to understand where he fits into the grand scheme of things. Everything is secondary on an individual basis behind the team goals.”
Click here to get your White Sox tickets
Jimenez ruptured his left pectoral tendon in late March while climbing the wall while trying to rob a homer in a spring training game. It was just one of a series of often dangerous adventures he has had in the outfield in his young MLB career.
“What the problem with Eloy has been is he does some dumb things in the outfield,” Stone said. “He’s not a dumb guy by any stretch of the imagination. He just plays a dumb left field. He goes after balls he has no business going after. He dives when he shouldn’t. He gets tangled up on the warning track when there’s no reason to do that. He, as you know, jumps over the wall with a week to go in spring training and sits out most of the season. He dives occasionally into the seats. In fact, one time without he netting, he dove into the seats. A couple times with the net, he did. You can’t be doing those things.
“Nobody has been able to impress upon Eloy that his value to the Chicago White Sox is 600 at-bats a year. He needs to hit 600 times a year, and to do that, you have to stay healthy.”
Jimenez, 24, is a dangerous power hitter who was set to be in the heart of the White Sox's lineup before his serious injury. He hit .296 with 14 homers, 41 RBIs and an .891 OPS in 55 games in the shortened 2020 season. In his two MLB seasons, Jimenez has hit .276 with 45 home runs and 120 RBIS over 730 plate appearances in 177 games.
Despite a spate of injuries to key players, the White Sox are 51-35 and hold an 7.5 lead in the AL Central entering Friday.
“When he comes back after a self-inflicted wound, a mistake he made that he shouldn’t have made, when he comes back to this team, this team is not holding its breath waiting for Eloy," Stone said. "They would love to have him back and productive. However, this team has done a pretty good job without him. And so when he comes back, he’s got to do what’s best for this team, not necessarily what’s best for Eloy. Because right now, everything is second banana behind winning a World Series. And whatever is best for the Chicago White Sox to win a World Series, then by definition it is best for every one of these players. Eloy has to realize that. He is smart enough to realize that.
The saying is you check your ego at the door and then you come in and help the ball club. By checking his ego at the door – let me tell you something. What Eloy wants at this point is truly irrelevant. It’s what the White Sox want him to do and how he best fits into a team that has fought its way to a seven-and-a-half-game lead where he hasn’t played a minute of it. And so he’ll come back. He’ll fit in.”