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-grade left hamstring strain. They believe the injury will keep Jiménez on the shelf for two or three weeks. He hurt himself while 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 anybody did until his next at-bat he mentioned that he felt a little something in his hamstring and that he could take his at-bat, but he might need a pinch runner. At that point in time there was no use taking any chances in him having that at-bat, so we erred on the side of caution."
Jake Burger will take Jiménez’ spot on the 26-man roster. Burger is 2-12 (.167) in three games with Triple-A Charlotte this year. Burger was hitting much better in Spring Training, where he slashed .263/.300/.491 with four home runs and nine RBI in 23 games.
Injuries have slowed Jiménez for most of his career. He played in a career-high 122 games in 2019, his rookie year. Jiménez was limited to 55 games in 2021 and 84 games last year. He entered spring training 25-30 pounds lighter this year with the hopes that it would help him stay healthier. The team moved him to designated hitter, in part because they hoped that would help him stay healthy, too.
"We're optimistic it's not going to be anything long term," said Grifol.
Jiménez is batting .200 in the early goings this year with two doubles and three RBI.
