- Editor’s note: “Eloy Jimenez: A lesson in patience amid injuries” originally appeared on Sox On 35th Tim Moran of Sox On 35th will be a regular contributor to NBC Sports Chicago’s coverage of the White Sox for the 2022 season. You can read more of their coverage at SoxOn35th.com and follow them on Twitter at @SoxOn35th.
Earlier this season, many White Sox fans were dismayed by Eloy Jimenez’s lackluster start to the season. The 25-year-old outfielder/DH went down with an injury on April 23 with just a 64 wRC+ (total offensive value, relative to 100) to his name, and returned in early July only to see that mark drop to 51 entering the All-Star Break. Of course, this all followed a 2021 campaign where Eloy struggled mightily at the plate in September and October, sporting a 69 wRC+ in those months before recording just five hits, all singles, in 17 postseason at-bats. All indications seemed to indicate that Eloy had hit a wall at the plate.
No. 74 then surged out of the breakaway and never looked back. He finished the 2022 season with a .298/.361/.505 batting line and a 146 wRC+, the latter of which was twelfth among all MLB hitters (min. 300 PA) and sixth among all hitters of the AL. Looking at just the second half, Eloy was the third best wRC+ hitter in MLB. While the Sox as a whole didn’t enjoy a similar revival in the second half, this major bright spot offers something valuable for fans to consider moving forward: Be patient with players battling multiple injuries in a short period of time.
Let’s examine the math behind Eloy’s injuries and the following periods of play. Jimenez tore his pectoral at the end of spring training in 2021 and missed just over 100 games with the injury. He then played 55 games to complete 2021 and, despite a solid display in August, was generally out of form towards the end of the year. So after playing half the games he missed due to injury, he hadn’t fully recovered. This is not encouraging, but understandable for a young player.
After a very short spring training in 2022, Eloy was struggling 11 games into the season before injuring his hamstring. It’s too small a sample to judge their performances, especially with the short preparation period. He then returned and played in just eight games before the All-Star Break. From then on, he brought it together in a big way.
To recap, a young player suffers his first major injury, plays a couple of months at a sub-par level, gets off to a cold start after a short offseason, then comes off the injury cold for eight games before enjoying consistent success for the first time since before the major injury. . This is a perfectly reasonable path for a young batsman. At no point in that span was there any reason to doubt Eloy’s long-term prospects, especially considering he posted a 115 and 138 wRC+ in his first two seasons, respectively. So why did many seem to think Eloy had hit his ceiling?
Essentially, we fans have a say in the big picture. Seventy mediocre games between 160 injury games and a rushed offseason feels like 100 terrible games to the fan struggling to witness three bad games in a row (although we’ve all been that). Yes, Eloy’s low home run and high ground ball profile was annoying for a while. But seeing the power he showed in 2019 and 2020, there was no basis to conclude that he simply wasn’t a great hitter.
Learn more about Eloy Jimenez and other White Sox players. Fans should expect him to bounce back from injuries next season by finishing this article on soxon35th.com.
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