Farm Report: Eloy Jimenez won't stop hitting
White Sox top prospect Eloy Jimenez has been binging at Double-A Birmingham.
Chicago White Sox prospect Eloy Jimenez missed the opening weeks of the minor league season with a pectoral injury, but he’s more than made up for lost time. Jimenez recently put together a streak of nine straight multi-hit games at Birmingham, which is, of course, insane. He’s gone 20-for-43 over his last ten games; he’s now hitting .341/.370/.694 over 90 plate appearances with seven homers and 24 RBIs.
At some point soon, the White Sox will need to find a level that can appropriately challenge Jimenez. He’s simply dishing out abuse to the pitchers of the Double-A Southern League. Jimenez slashed .312/.379/.568 with 44 extra-base hits (19 HR) across two levels last season, so there’s nothing fluky about this year’s numbers. He’s a machine.
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Sox fans and fantasy owners might not actually have to wait too long to see Jimenez in the bigs, if Chicago GM Rick Hahn can be believed…
Talked to Rick Hahn about Eloy Jimenez this morning.
“Traditionally you tend not to do too many promotions before the halfway mark … Certainly the way Eloy has performed thus far, might require an adjustment here in the coming weeks.”
I’ll have more on today’s postgame show.
— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) May 9, 2018
Seems like good news for those of us who have Jimenez stashed in the NA spot. Whenever he’s promoted, it will be an actionable fantasy event. Jimenez is only owned in 9 percent of Yahoo leagues.
• Nationals prospect Juan Soto has somehow already earned his second promotion, this time to Double-A Harrisburg. The 19-year-old outfielder demonstrated immediately that he belongs in the high minors, doubling in his first at-bat and launching an opposite field homer in his second. Soto’s numbers through his first 32 games this season are absurd: 31 R, 13 HR, 46(!) RBIs, 26 BB, 3 SB, .373/.477/.817. So it would be fair to say that Vlad Jr. isn’t the only teenage prospect who’s of interest to the fantasy community.
• Franmil Reyes is feasting like few players ever feast. He’s hit eight homers over his last eight games, and the kid hit multiple bombs in three straight. Yes, it’s the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, but no one else is doing the things Reyes is doing. The 22-year-old Padres prospect is up to 13 HR and he’s slashing .344/.430/.730. He now leads the PCL in home runs, total bases (89), slugging percentage and OPS.
• Speaking of the PCL, Milwaukee pitching prospect Corbin Burnes hasn’t had a flawless season to this point (1.33 WHIP), but he delivered an impressive start on Sunday. The righty allowed just four hits, one run and no walks over 7.0 innings, striking out 13. Burnes has 34 Ks over 31.2 IP on the season. We could see him in the bigs this season if he can string together a few more high-K/low-walk appearances.
• Reds top prospect Nick Senzel was on a nice little 8-for-19 run at Triple-A Louisville, but he landed on the 7-day DL last week with vertigo. It’s a problem he’s experienced before. Initial reports suggested he wasn’t likely to be out for long, so here’s hoping for the best.
• We’re six starts into Jalen Beeks‘ season and still waiting for him to struggle. The Boston prospect hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in any turn so far for Triple-A Pawtucket. His ERA is 1.72, his WHIP is 0.96 and the left-hander has struck out 52 batters in just 31.1 innings. He’s allowed only eight walks and opponents are batting .191 against him. Beeks didn’t enter the season among Boston’s more hyped prospects, but, well … he keeps getting everyone out. Just look at those numbers. He’s not a flamethrower, yet no one hits him. Definitely a name to file away.
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