Chicago White Sox outfielder Eloy Jiménez will be placed on the injured list on Sunday and is expected to miss 6-8 weeks with a strained right hamstring, the club announced.
Jiménez required a cart to leave the field during Saturday's game against the Minnesota Twins after he stumbled running through the first-base bag on a groundout. The injury was originally described by the team as hamstring soreness. After the game, manager Tony La Russa told James Fegan of The Athletic that the injury is significant, but that the White Sox are hopeful that Jiménez will return this season -- and, perhaps, sooner than he did last year, when he didn't debut until July 26 because of a torn pectoral muscle. The preliminary timeline confirms those hopes.
Jiménez, who remained face-down on the field for several minutes, appeared to hold the back or side of his right knee. He would eventually stand up on his own power and make his way over to the cart. Here's video of the scene:
Jiménez, 25 years old, is in the early stage of his fourth big-league season. Saturday's game marked his 11th of the year, during which he's batted .222/.256/.333 with a home run and a double in 39 trips to the plate. Jiménez for his career had hit .268/.314/.500 with 56 home runs in 999 big-league plate appearances entering Saturday. His contributions have been worth an estimated 3.4 Wins Above Replacement, per Baseball Reference.
Jiménez joins several key White Sox on the shelf. That group includes third baseman Yoán Moncada, starting pitchers Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito, as well as relievers Garrett Crochet (out for the season following Tommy John surgery) and Joe Kelly. The White Sox shifted Andrew Vaughn from right to left field and inserted Gavin Sheets following Jiménez's departure. La Russa could deploy Adam Haseley in Jiménez's place should he miss time. Chicago acquired him ahead of Opening Day in a trade with the Philadelphia Phillies.
This is Jiménez's fourth career stint on the big-league IL. Again, most recently he missed several months last season after suffering a torn pectoral muscle on an attempted catch during spring training.
