RADIO
Eloy Jimenez 2020 Outlook: Late-Season Surge A Sign Of Things To Come?
After breaking camp with the White Sox ahead of the 2019 season, Eloy Jimenez struggled out of the gate until a late-season surge boosted his overall numbers. He wrapped up his rookie campaign with a 31/69/79/0/.267 roto line through 122 games after missing time with a pair of IL stints. Through the end of July, Jimenez’s .232/.294/.461 slash line and 28.3% K-rate were less than appealing, but his performance over the final two months displayed why he entered the year ranked as MLB’s third-best prospect. A 14-homer surge and a .308/.342/.575 slash line silenced some of his critics, but his 24.4% K% and 4.0% BB% could still use some work. He whiffed on 47.2% of breaking pitches and 44.7% of off-speed deliveries as a rookie, which will limit his BA if this trend continues. Jimenez still hit a respectable .260 on these pitches combined, but his xBA of .224 paints a much grimmer picture. Entering his age-23 season, the former Cubs prospect will insert himself into the middle-third of the Pale Hose lineup, prime real estate for his counting stats to flourish. His current ADP of 56 is a bit high for just two months of above-average production, but if he can improve on pitches that aren’t fastballs, he should provide value as a fifth or sixth-round selection.
Read More News
