YOU (BETTER) MAKE THE CALL
It’s time for Hahn to promote Jimenez, who’s tearing up the International League
Get him on a plane to Chicago. Get him over to Guaranteed Rate Field. Get him in the White Sox’ lineup.
Eloy Jimenez, that is.
It’s time. Time for the most enticing prospect in the Sox’ system to take his turn at bat in the big leagues. Time for Sox fans to get to size up the 6-4, 205-pound hitting machine in the flesh. Time for Nicky Delmonico, Leury Garcia and anyone else who has been playing left field to take a bow and get the heck out of the way.
It’s time for the 21-year-old, thunderstick-wielding embodiment of South Side promise to don his signature No. 74, step into the batter’s box and start delivering.
Get him on, get him over, get him in.
“Yeah, I’m ready,” he said. “I feel confident with myself. I feel comfortable. And I feel ready.”
So ready, he said it twice. And, by the way, it was a month ago when he spoke those words to me in Charlotte, home of the Class AAA Knights. All he has done since then is drive up his average at that level to a silly-good .383 and his OPS to a double-take-inducing 1.113.
On Sunday against Pawtucket, Jimenez went 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. One can only assume Pawtucket is a closer approximation of a major-league team than the Royals, who visit the Sox for a three-game series beginning Tuesday.
Look, I’m not saying the Sox have to listen to me. I’m merely saying they can’t listen to their general manager, Rick Hahn. Not on this one. Someone has to stage an intervention, or at least tie up Hahn and stash him in a broom closet. And fast. No offense, of course.
Here’s how Hahn explains the delay in calling up Jimenez:
“The important thing for us in any promotion, whether it’s Eloy and [Michael] Kopech, or [Yoan] Moncada, [Lucas] Giolito and [Reynaldo] Lopez last year — or the hopefully legion of guys you’ll be asking about over the next 18 to 24 months — the most important thing is that they’re in a position to have long-term success for us, that they’re in a position to succeed and not just survive.”
Am I the only one who nodded off halfway through that?
“So, yes, while you can look at a stat line or you can look at a box score and say, ‘This guy looks like he’s doing well, looks like he’s ready,’ our checklist that we want these guys to answer is a little more lengthy than that,’’ Hahn said. ‘‘And not until they’ve answered all those questions we have for them at the minor-league level will we promote them.”
But Jimenez doesn’t merely “look” like he’s doing well. He’s making a mockery International League pitching.
He doesn’t merely “look” like he’s ready. He’s clearly more than good enough to hold up the lofty standards of the Sox’ 31-gamesunder-.500 offensive machine.
What else could be on that checklist? Switch-hitting? Throwing a knuckleball? Learning Mandarin?
“They know what’s on the list,” Hahn said. “I’m not going to sit here and tell you things our players can’t do.”
Great, that settles it.
Let’s see what all the fuss over Jimenez is about.
Let’s watch him play big-league baseball and talk — no, obsess — about it during this small window before the Cubs start their pennant push, the Bears begin playing games that matter and the Sox disappear into the mist until spring training.
A September call-up? Please. Get him on, get him over, get him in.