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Jimenez feeling less 'weird' about trade from Cubs to White Sox

After being traded on Thursday, Eloy Jimenez merely had to cross the playing field in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

That is the location of the Chicago Cubs' high Class A farm team.

The Pelicans were preparing to play Chicago White Sox affiliate Winston-Salem when Jimenez and three other Cubs prospects were swapped for Jose Quintana before the second of a four-game series.

"I felt weird at the beginning," Jimenez said through Sox interpreter Billy Russo. "It was kind of a surreal situation, but you know, once the game started and I was on the field, it was just baseball. "It was a connection of course, but at the moment of the game starting it was just baseball and I started feeling more comfortable. The situation was less weird for me."

Jimenez, the game's No. 5 overall prospect per Baseball America, joins the White Sox's organization along with Dylan Cease, an intriguing pitching prospect, infielder Bryant Flete and first baseman Matt Rose.

In his Winston-Salem debut Thursday night, the 20-year-old Jimenez helped the Dash beat Myrtle Beach 3-2 with a 2-run single.

Friday night, Jimenez was 1-for-3 with 2 walks in Winston Salem's 4-3 win over the Pelicans.

Jimenez was caught off guard initially, but he has quickly processed the trade.

"It was a little surprising in the beginning," Jimenez said. "But like I said at the beginning of the season, too, you never know where you are going to find happiness. Right now, you can be playing for a specific organization but you also have to play for the rest of the organizations in the major leagues because this is a business."

Jimenez is already well known for taking care of business as a hitter, and the 6-foot-4, 205-pounder has 64 doubles, 32 home runs and 175 RBI in 255 minor-league games since 2014.

He has been compared to Jermaine Dye, a standout right fielder for the White Sox from 2005-09.

After missing the first six weeks of the current season with a sore right shoulder, Jimenez is back playing at a high level.

"It hasn't been as difficult as I would have expected," he said. "But it's something that of course has taken me time to get to the point where I know that I can still perform. I think it's just part of the process when you have an injury, you need time to get to your rhythm and the point that you used to be before."

Jimenez performed well enough with Myrtle Beach to earn his second straight invite to the All-Star Futures Game. He played on the World Team Sunday for the second straight year with Yoan Moncada, the White Sox's top prospect.

"I can tell you he is a really nice guy and a great baseball talent," said Moncada, a second baseman for Class AAA Charlotte. "I'm really happy to have him with us in the White Sox organization."

Jimenez is close friends with another White Sox prospect - low A Kannapolis outfielder Micker Adolfo.

"He is a great human being and a nice, humble, disciplined person," Adolfo said. "He never changes his mood and is always happy and positive no matter his situation or his results. He is always trying to make the people around him better and giving them advice. He will be a great teammate.

"As an athlete, he is great. He is an outstanding baseball player. I talked to him (Thursday) after the trade and I told him all the good things about this organization. I'm excited to play with him."

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