This would have been big news a few years ago. Eloy Jiménez was a top prospect, #3 on the Baseball America in 2019 and #4 in 2018. He’s a 29-year-old, right-handed hitting outfielder. He plays the corner
outfield spot, with no time in center field in the minors.
He made it to the majors in 2019, hitting .267/.315/.513 with 31 home runs, finishing four in Rookie of the Year voting for the White Sox. He had a good 2020 season, 296/.332/.559 with 14 home runs in 55 games. In all, he’s played parts of six seasons in the majors, playing 534 games, with a .269/.318/.462 with 95 home runs, with a 5.3 bWAR.
Reporters are saying that he lost 20 pounds since the end of the season (he had put on a fair bit of weight since making it to the majors). He played in the Rays and Jays minors last year, hitting .247/.326/.347 with 3 home runs in 54 games, mostly at Triple-A.
Normally, I ignore most of the Minor League signings, but Jiménez is still just 29 and, well, Myles Straw was on a minor league contract going into last year’s spring training and ended up playing 137 games for the Jays. If Eloy plays 137 games for the Jays this year, something will have gone very wrong, but it is possible he could make the team at some point, if there are some injuries.
