Red-hot Jimenez keeps cool while waiting for call from White Sox
On the field, Eloy Jimenez is doing all the right things with Class AAA Charlotte.
The Chicago White Sox's top prospect is equally impressive off the field.
Speaking on a conference call Thursday after batting .435 with 7 doubles, 6 home runs, 13 RBI, 13 runs scored and a 1.293 OPS over in July and being voted Sox's minor-league player of the month, Jimenez could have used the platform to push for a deserved promotion to the major leagues.
The 21-year-old outfielder will continue letting his advanced play do the talking.
"I can't get frustrated over things that I can't control," Jimenez said through White Sox translator Billy Russo. "I can get frustrated when things don't go well on the field because those are the things I can control. What happens off the field, I can't control that."
He's not the best defensive outfielder in left or right, and he's not a base stealing threat.
But Jimenez is in complete control where it matters most - the plate.
Heading into Thursday night's game against Norfolk, the 6-foot-4, 220-pounder was hitting a combined .337/.386/.601 with 18 homers and 59 RBI in 80 games with Charlotte and AA Birmingham this season while striking out only 51 times in 339 plate appearances.
Since being promoted to Charlotte on June 21, Jimenez has pulverized International League pitching. Playing winter ball in his native Dominican Republic after the 2017 season helped prepare the right-hander for the step up in class.
"There are some similarities here in Charlotte," Jimenez said. "The pitchers here throw hard and they have better command of their pitches and they throw strikes. Having the experience that I had in the DR put me in a better position to succeed in Charlotte."
Sox general manager Rick Hahn is weighing two options with Jimenez. He could call him up in the next few days or weeks or wait until the middle of next April to delay his service time clock.
Though he is clearly ready, Jimenez is comfortable playing the waiting game.
"I'm working to be there this year but if the front office or somebody else doesn't think that I should be there, that is their decision," Jimenez said. "I'm going to be ready for when the opportunity arrives. When God thinks that the time is right, I'm going to be ready."
Hahn was in Charlotte on Wednesday and he talked with his prize prospect.
"We just said hello to each other," Jimenez said. "He told me just to keep working hard, keep doing the things I've been doing here. That's it. We didn't talk about anything else."
Maybe Hahn visited Charlotte for one last look at Jimenez as a minor leaguer.
"Honestly, I don't know," Jimenez said. "I don't know why he was here. If he was here, it was for a reason. Maybe he knows something that I don't know."