Back on IL, Sox's Jimenez 'feeling way better'

Eloy Jimenez usually is the most upbeat person in the ballpark, unless he's injured.

"When I need to talk about all this, it makes me not in a good mood," he said Thursday.

For the fifth time since 2019 - his rookie year with the White Sox - Jimenez is dealing with another stint on the injured list.

He strained his left hamstring running the bases in Monday's home opener against the Giants. The Sox announced Jimenez is expected to miss 2-3 week.

That's bad news, but the latest injury isn't nearly as serious as some of the others.

Jimenez did some running and played catch Thursday morning. He said he feels good enough to pinch-hit, which is not going to happen since he's on the 10-day IL.

"I've been feeling way better," Jimenez said. "I don't want anything like this to happen, but this is baseball and it is what it is. You know, in life nothing is easy.

"Right now, I'm feeling good today. I'm just going to keep working and forget about this. Just moving forward and try to do my best."

The White Sox are hoping Jimenez is back in the lineup in less than two weeks.

"I know it's a setback," manager Pedro Grifol said. "He had a slight hamstring pull and he's on the IL. I look at it glass half full, right? I look at it, the work that he put in in the off-season put him in a position where he came in today, two days after (the injury), and he's running and he's strong and he's hitting.

"Things like that are going to happen. They're just going to happen. It's part of the game. It could be the weather, whatever the case may be."

Hendriks healing, return closer:

Liam Hendriks announced he's completed his final round of chemotherapy for Non-Hodgkin lymphoma Wednesday, and the all-star closer said he's looking forward to returning to the Sox's bullpen "soon."

There is no set date for Hendriks to come back, but it could be in late May or early June.

"He's progressively gotten stronger," manager Pedro Grifol said. "His work capacity's gotten stronger as he's gone through this process. He's never stopped throwing. So it's now a matter of, he's got to go through a little bit of a spring training, too.

"But the communication's going to be extremely important when it comes to getting him back on this mound."