Eloy Jimenez believes he can hit over 40 home runs next season…if he stays healthy.
Just days after a report from 670 The Score’s Bruce Levine came out that Jimenez was drawing “very little interest” from opposing teams in trade conversations, the 27-year-old predicted he was going to hit a career-high in home runs.
During an appearance on Foul Territory former White Sox catcher AJ Pierznski asked Jimenez if he was going to hit 40 home runs in 2024.
“If I’m healthy, more than that,” Jimenez responded.
The last player to hit 40 home runs for the White Sox was Todd Frazier back in 2016. Coincidentally, Frazier was co-hosting the episode. When pressed on how many Jimenez thought he was going to hit the Big Baby replied, “I don’t want to say it I just want to do it.”
"If I'm healthy, more than that!"
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) January 23, 2024
We asked @The_bigbaby74 if he was going to smack 40 home runs in 2024 👀
▶️ https://t.co/tUhxJWt4Jg pic.twitter.com/yfL5qLkeiq
Jimenez’s career high in home runs is 31, which he hit during his rookie year in 2019. His 31 homers led all American League Rookies that season. He followed that up by hitting 14 home runs in just 55 games in 2020 en route to winning a Silver Slugger Award but has struggled to produce similar power numbers since.
Part of the issue has been his inability to stay on the field, something that Jimenez is well aware of judging by his comments.
In 2021 he was limited to 55 games after tearing his left pectoral muscle in spring training. As a result, he hit just 10 home runs. In 2022 he appeared in just 84 games due to a strained right hamstring and hit just 16 home runs.
The 2023 season marked the most games that Jimenez has played (120) since his rookie year (122) but he still only managed to hit 18 home runs with a career-low .441 slugging percentage. His barrel percentage and hard-hit percentage also dropped.
When looking at Jimenez StatCast batting statistics the one thing that stands out is his launch angle. In 2023 he had a launch angle of 5.7 compared to a 9.3 launch angle when he hit a career-high 31 homers in 2019.
During the shortened 2020 season Jimenez's launch angle dropped to 5.7 but his home run output did not fall off. He also consistently hit the ball hard, with a career-high 16.5 barrel percentage 55.7 hard hit percentage, 32.9 sweet spot percentage, and .540 expected slugging percentage, which was also inside the top nine percent in baseball. His launch angle has fluctuated since then but returned to 5.7 this past season.
In 2023 he had a career-low 9.3 barrel percentage, 26.0 sweet spot percentage, 46.8 hard hit percentage, and a .421 expected slugging percentage. These numbers suggest that Jimenez was having some issues with his timing although the revolving door of hitting coaches certainly doesn't help matters. He is going to have another hitting coach to work with this season after the White Sox handed the reins to Marcus Thames.
"He's just coming to know me, to see how I feel, what I need to work," Jimenez said when asked by Pierzsynski what Thames's message was to him this offseason. "I like it. It was good."
Jimenez certainly has the ability to produce gaudy home run totals. The question will be if he can stay healthy and refind his stroke at the plate.
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