Eloy Jimenez: A lesson on patience amidst injuries

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  • Editor's Note: "Eloy Jimenez: A lesson on patience amidst injuries" originally appeared on Sox on 35th. Tim Moran of Sox On 35th will be a regular contributor to NBC Sports Chicago's White Sox coverage for the 2022 season. You can read more of their coverage at SoxOn35th.com, and follow them on Twitter at @SoxOn35th.

Early this season, many White Sox fans were dismayed over Eloy Jimenez's lackluster start to the season. The 25-year-old outfielder/DH injured himself on April 23 with just a 64 wRC+ (total offensive value, relative to 100) to his name, and came back in early July just to see that mark fall 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 signal that Eloy had hit a wall at the plate.

No. 74 then thundered out of the break with a power surge and never looked back. He finished the 2022 season with a .298/.361/.505 batting line and a 146 wRC+, the latter good for twelfth among all MLB hitters (min. 300 PA) and sixth among all AL hitters. Looking at just the second half, Eloy was the third-best hitter by wRC+ in the MLB. While the Sox as a whole didn't enjoy a similar second-half revival, this major bright spot provides something valuable for fans to consider moving forward: have patience with players who battle through multiple injuries in a short period of time.

Let's examine the math of Eloy's injuries and ensuing playing periods. Jimenez ruptured his pectoral at the end of Spring Training 2021 and proceeded to miss just over 100 games to injury. He then played 55 games to round out 2021, and despite a solid August showing, generally was not in form by the end of the year. So after playing half of the number of games lost to injury, he hadn't fully recovered. That's not encouraging, but understandable for a young player.

After a very brief spring training in 2022, Eloy was scuffling 11 games into the season before injuring his hamstring. That's too small of a sample size to judge his performances, especially with the shortened preparation period. Then he came back and played just eight games before the All-Star Break. Thereafter, he put it together in a major way.

To recap, a young player suffers his first major injury, plays subpar for a couple of months, starts cold after a short offseason, then comes out of injury cold for eight games before enjoying consistent success for the first time since prior to the major injury. That is a totally reasonable path for a young hitter to take. At no point in that period was there any reason to doubt Eloy's long-term prospects, especially considering he notched a 115 and 138 wRC+ in his first two seasons, respectively. So why did many seem to think that Eloy had hit his ceiling?

Essentially, we fans have blinders to the bigger picture. Seventy mediocre games sandwiched between 160 games of injury and a hasty offseason feels like 100 terrible games to the fan who struggles with witnessing three bad games in a row (though that’s been all of us at time). Yes, Eloy's low home run, high ground ball profile was bothersome for a while. But seeing how much strength he showed off in 2019 and 2020, there was no basis for concluding he was simply not a power hitter.

Learn more about Eloy Jimenez and other White Sox players fans should expect to bounce back from injuries next season by finishing this article on soxon35th.com.
 

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