Liftoff!
Eloy Jimenez needs to find a successful countdown to lifting the ball in the air.
Always viewed as having 40-home-run potential — and potentially a valuable component of the White Sox’ plans if he can — Jimenez has fallen short of big power production this season with 16 homers, including a solo shot in the second game of the doubleheader Tuesday against the Royals.
Hitting the ball hard is not an issue. Jimenez’s exit-velocity average is at 91.6 mph, slightly higher than his 91.2 rookie number of 2019, when he hit a career-high 31 homers. There is something wrong with the amount of balls he hits on the ground, though, at a career-high 53.6% rate.
“He hasn’t lost his strength; his exit velo is as high as ever,” manager Pedro Grifol said before the twin bill at Guaranteed Rate Field. “The key to him is elevating the ball. Yes, there is a plan in place. He works on it every day. Just got to execute now.”
Jimenez and Sox teammates have hitting drills with screens on the ground to help them get the ball airborne.
“He comes here and has great sessions. He goes in there off the iPitch machine and has great sessions,” Grifol said.
But Jimenez entered Tuesday batting .272/.320/.438 with a .758 OPS, 60 points lower than his career OPS. Since getting a career-high four hits against the Orioles on Aug. 31, Jimenez was 5-for-33, including an RBI infield single in a five-run first against Brady Singer that propelled the Sox to a 6-2 victory in the first game of the doubleheader.
“I’ve been hitting the ball way harder than ever, just on the ground,” Jimenez said. “So that’s something that I need to work on. Right now, I’m just trying to compete and give all I’ve got.
“Nineteen [games] left, so right now we’re just trying to finish strong. After those 19, we can start to think about the offseason. These 19 games are important because the season’s not over yet.”
When it’s over, Grifol wants to get after it in the offseason.
“It’s going to be critical for him,” Grifol said. “You get the ball in the air, you got a chance to be an All-Star.”
Hampered by injuries throughout his five-year career, Jimenez was on the injured list with a hamstring strain in April and missed three weeks in May after having an appendectomy. He also has been hampered by other lower-half issues but figures to finish very close to his career-high 122 games in 2019.
“One of the things I’ve learned this year is how injuries really affect the mechanics of hitting,” Grifol said. “We had it with [Tim Anderson] and his knee. We had it with [Yoan] Moncada and his back. And we’ve experienced it with Eloy and his injuries.
‘‘Elevating a baseball and hitting for power, a lot of it has to do with leverage, weight transfer, that kind of stuff. And when you’re not 100%, it can certainly affect it, and then it becomes a mental issue, as well.”
Coming to spring training in good shape helped Jimenez endure the physical issues he has encountered this year.
“I’ve been feeling really good this year, besides those little problems,” Jimenez said. “But this year, I played more games than ever. I feel really good. Those little problems are always going to be there. I just thank God that I played more games this year than I played the last two or three years.”
