Eloy Jimenez 2024 Player Outlook: Is It Time To Give Up On His Potential?
4 months agoChicago White Sox designated hitter Eloy Jimenez played in 120 games in 2023. While that number is the highest since his rookie season, he saw his underlying numbers drop across the board—the 27-year-old put together a season where most stats came in below his career average. Barrel %, exit velocity, launch angle, and hard hit % all ended below career norms. There are other numbers in the same boat. As far as fantasy output, however, he had a decent season with a .272 average, 18 home runs, and 64 RBI. That will give managers hope he still has a breakout in him, but he will need to drastically improve his underlying numbers. ATC has a 71/28/87/.275 projection for the Dominican and that seems like a ceiling at this point, if he can stay healthy and turn around some of the aforementioned stats. There may be a single leading factor to Jimenez not doing more damage last season, his sweet spot %. He was in the bottom one percent in baseball in that category, with a 26% rate. If he can get that number back near his 31.7% from 2022, there may finally be a coming-out party. There are talks of the White Sox trading him, and fantasy managers may be ready to give up on his potential, it just depends on if you think he can fix his sweet spot rate.