Jimenez continues strong push to Chicago White Sox's roster

When he last spoke of Eloy Jimenez, Chicago White Sox general manager Rick Hahn focused on the prolific prospect's health.

"He's progressing nicely," Hahn said.

That was on July 10, when Jimenez still was recovering from a strained left adductor.

Were the Sox contending and in need of an impact bat, they might have pushed Jimenez a bit. They're not, so they didn't.

"One thing that given the situation we're in right now is we're always going to err on the side of caution with these guys," Hahn said. "There's no reason to push Eloy if there's any reason whatsoever with him. We're going to make sure everything is 100 percent resolved and go from there."

Losers of 20 of their last 27 road games heading into Monday night's game against Los Angeles, the White Sox trailed led 5-3 in the seventh inning at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

Jose Abreu gave the Sox the early lead with a home run (No. 14) in the first.

Jimenez felt good enough to return to Class AAA Charlotte's lineup on July 15, and he is obviously healthy.

After batting .429 (12-for-28) with 6 runs scored, 3 doubles, 3 home runs and 6 RBI from July 16-22, the 21-year-old outfielder was named International League Batter of the Week Monday.

In 20 games with Charlotte, Jimenez is batting .351/.400/.622 with 5 doubles, 5 home runs and 10 RBI.

The 6-foot-4, 220-pounder missed the first two weeks of the season with a pectoral injury before slashing .317/.368/.556 with 10 homers and 42 RBI in 53 games with AA Birmingham.

Jimenez was promoted to Charlotte on June 21.

"He's driving the ball to all fields with power," director of player development Chris Getz said at the time. "The hit tool is very good as well. He's hammering fastballs. Talk about maturity, he's definitely beyond his years in how he handles the game as a whole."

The White Sox were eager to see how Jimenez would handle the better quality of pitching at Triple-A, and so far it has been a breeze.

The next stop is the major leagues - so when will Jimenez be joining the White Sox?

"If he forces our hand," Getz said, "we're certainly going to have that conversation about him coming to Chicago."