Eloy Jimenez shows signs of progress in White Sox's loss to Mariners

He's already played in three home openers, at Kansas City, at Cleveland and Friday at Guaranteed Rate Field.

He's been bombarded with off-speed offerings from opposing pitchers and questions from the media.

At age 22, he's one of the youngest players in the major leagues.

There's been a steady stream of early stress on White Sox rookie Eloy Jimenez, and it's taken an expected toll.

"I feel a little bit of pressure," the left fielder said. "But I feel good."

Heading into Saturday's game against the Mariners at Guaranteed Rate Field, Jimenez was 4-for-24 (.167) with no homers and 2 RBI.

Jimenez drove in both runs against the Royals in K.C. during the first series of the season. The first was on a hit by pitch with the bases loaded and the second was on a bases-loaded walk.

In his first six games with the Sox, Jimenez saw nearly 50 percent sliders.

The early scouting report on him is obvious - throw breaking pitches off the plate and let the kid flail away.

With 9 strikeouts in his first 26 plate appearances, Jimenez obliged.

The White Sox were almost expecting a slow start from their prized prospect.

"It's incumbent upon us, and we're trying, to have him slow it down a bit, stay within his strike zone," manager Rick Renteria said. "He actually has a really good eye. If we can just get him back to slowing the game down a little bit, truly trusting his approach, (swinging at) balls up out over the plate that he can handle and allow himself to be who he is … it takes a little time."

With home opening festivities out of the way, Saturday was the unofficial start to the long grind of the season. Jimenez looked to be much more relaxed in the Sox's 9-2 loss to the Mariners at Guaranteed Rate Field.

He singled in his first three at-bats, was 3-for-4 for the game and hiked his batting average to .250.

"It's a good day for me," Jimenez said. "It's a nice day for me, but not the team."

As he settles in, the forecast is more nice days ahead, for Jimenez and the White Sox.

"It's just his desire to maybe want to impress everybody and show them why he's here," Renteria said. "I think that's a natural process, it's human nature of a person who's driven to want to have success. Hopefully it's sooner rather than later, but I think the conversations are being had, the work is being done and we just have to allow him to go through the process and experience everything he does.

"He might be one of those kids where one at-bat just clicks, and then all of a sudden you see this kid just take off. We're not worried about him."

All 7 of Jimenez's hits this season have been singles, but there is little doubt the 6-foot-4, 245-pounder is built for power.

"I'm trying to get comfortable first," Jimenez said. "I don't worry about the home runs because I know they are going to come. I'm just worrying about taking good at-bats and get good pitches to hit."

Yoan Moncada struggled from the start of the 2018 season to the finish, his first full year in the major leagues.

Flourishing in the early days of this season, Moncada has already given Jimenez a survival tip.

"He just told me, 'Kid, just enjoy and work hard,'" Jimenez said.