The White Sox suffered their first injury of the regular season. The team placed Eloy Jiménez on the 10-day IL on Wednesday with a low-level left thigh muscle load. They believe the injury will keep Jiménez on the shelf for two or three weeks. He injured himself running the bases in the seventh inning of Monday night’s game against the Giants.
“I didn’t notice anything (at the time),” said manager Pedro Grifol. “I don’t think anyone did it until they mentioned on their next shot that they felt something in their hamstring and that they could pick up their racquet, but they could use a pinch of runner.” At that point there was a point. There’s no point in taking a risk when he’s got a punch like that, so we played it safe.
Jake Burger will take Jiménez’s place in the 26-man roster. Burger is 2-12 (.167) in three games with Triple-A Charlotte this year. Burger hit much better in spring practice, where he hit .263/.300/.491 in 23 games with four home runs and nine RBI.
Injuries slowed Jiménez for most of his career. He played a career-high 122 games in 2019, his rookie year. Jiménez was limited to 55 games in 2021 and 84 games last year. He went into spring training 25-30 pounds lighter this year hoping it would help him stay healthier. The team promoted him to designated hitter, partly because they hoped it would help him stay sane as well.
“We are optimistic that it won’t work out in the long term,” said Grifol.
Jiménez is hitting .200 this year with two doubles and three RBI.
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