Few players over the last few fantasy baseball seasons have disappointed owners quite like Eloy Jiménez. He has had a top-60 ADP in each of the last two seasons, but to date he has only played 118 games over the last two years, combining to hit just 21 home runs in those games. When Eloy has played this season, he has been effective putting up a .302 batting average to go along with 11 home runs, 27 runs, and 38 runs batted in. When you factor in that he has only played 63 games this season it leaves you back into a place where you can feel hopeful for his future. This leaves us with the question of whether we should buy into this season’s 63-game sample or is he ultimately going to be a player who disappoints year in and year out because he struggles to stay on the field?

 

 

 

Fantasy Baseball Player Spotlight: Eloy Jiménez

If you have watched a healthy Eloy Jiménez play, it is hard to miss how talented of a hitter he is. He was able to hit 30 home runs in 122 games as a 21-year-old, and now that he has recovered from his pectoral injury it looks like his bat has returned to the form we grew to expect of him based on that 2019 season. He remained a player with a top-60 ADP for a reason, and it would be no surprise to see that number rise this coming season, as there are few players who can serve as a batting average anchor for your fantasy baseball team, while also offering you 40 home run upside along while also being on a talented enough team to also get to 100 runs batted in and 100 runs scored on a consistent basis. By my count, there are less than 10 players of that caliber, and while I expect that number to rise next season with the rule changes banning the shift, I would be surprised if that number went much past 15-20. This still should keep a player such as Jimenez in high regard even if he doesn’t steal any bases.

One thing we should consider with Jimenez isn’t his talent as a hitter, I don’t think many people would deny that he has the skills to be an impact bat. What we need to look into is injuries. Over the last two seasons, he has had upward of nine different injuries which include a ruptured pectoral muscle, and a hamstring injury this season that required him surgery on the tendon at the back of his knee. Now he is just 25 years old, and we have seen other players recover from major injuries, Yordan Alvarez being a prime example, he had surgery on both of his knees in 2020, and has now had back to back 30 home run seasons, while providing a .275 plus batting average, and it is likely he will eclipse the 100 RBI milestone in consecutive seasons as well. So there is hope that Eloy can recover and still be a very productive hitter as he is still just 25 years old.

 

 

 

Eloy Jimenez in 2023

With us already one-third of the way into September, the unofficial start to the next fantasy baseball season is just a couple of months away, and I will be very interested to see how Eloy is valued in those drafts. As noted you can make the case when healthy that he should be a top-40 pick moving forward, and there is a very good chance that in many drafts his stock will fall well below that due to his injury history, and we would be well served to not look past those injury concerns. As previously noted he has had nine injuries in the last two years, and no one wants to throw away any pick, let alone one in the first four rounds on a player who might not even get to 100 games played.

So for you, the fantasy baseball manager, you have to understand your own risk tolerance. In a higher stakes league. I think you can justify that like Alvarez, Jimenez is young enough to recover from his injuries and constantly play 150 games or more and deliver you a great deal of production, but at the same time, we can certainly see how the risk of him falling into Byron Buxton territory, and never reaching his potential because he struggles to stay healthy. With how the White Sox roster is constructed, you would also have to wonder how many games they can find for him at DH, so they will need him to play some games in the outfield.

 

 

 

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