In a rather disappointing press conference Monday afternoon, Rick Hahn announced officially that White Sox top prospect Eloy Jimenez will not be called up to the majors this season, effectively ending his 2018 season. Jimenez hit a combined .337/.384/.577 between Double- and Triple-A this season with his Charlotte numbers being even better (.355/.399/.597). His power numbers are up and his strikeouts are down. He basically had the exact season you would have dreamed he’d have, minus some time off for an injury here and there.
So why isn’t he finishing out the season with a well-earned trip to Chicago just as the summer heat starts to finally and mercifully break?
Hahn said Jiménez needs to improve his defense: “We’re not trying to develop a 21 year old DH”
— James Fegan (@JRFegan) September 3, 2018
Oh.
While it’s nice to finally learn officially what box remained unchecked, it’s pretty disheartening to see defense being the cited reason. Hitting can be quantified. You can say “he needs to strike out less” and then people can look at the numbers and go “done”. Defense is subjective. Defense is nebulous. Defense is the same in Double-A and the majors. A corner outfield is a corner outfield and the best way to get better at defense, at least in my admittedly non-professional baseball man eyes, would seem to be getting more reps and playing more games. Which is pretty hard to do when your parent club ends your season a month earlier than it should.
Photo credit: Butch Dill- USA Today
Actually I’m tired of hearing you guys whine about bringing up Jimenez. The season is a Lost season by bringing somebody up and chance and injury to a star player at this point is ridiculous! He will have many more opportunities to work on his defense in a non baseball game in Arizona then a few innings in the major leagues! I truly believe you guys are getting paid by their representatives to write these stories!
Unless his representatives run Baseball Prospectus, no such luck.
I just like watching the White Sox actually be good and it’s been a long, long time since that was so.
One useless month now or a full year later down the line when they are hopefully competing for something. It seems like an easy choice for anyone regardless of if they’re a fan or in the front office.