The White Sox suffered their first injury of the regular season. The team placed Eloy Jimenez on the 10-day disabled list Wednesday with a mild strain to his left hamstring. They believe the injury will keep Jimenez on the shelf for two to three weeks. He was hurt while running the bases in the seventh inning of Monday night’s game against the Giants.
“I didn’t notice anything (at the time),” coach Pedro Grifol said. “I don’t think anybody did until his next at-bat he mentioned that he felt something in his hamstring and he could take his at-bat, but he might need a pinch runner. At that point there was no use. risk him having that at-bat, so we err on the side of caution.”
Jake Burger will take Jimenez’s place 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 RBIs in 23 games.
Injuries have held Jimenez back for most of his career. He played 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 hoping it would help him stay healthier. The team moved him to designated hitter, in part because they hoped that would help keep him healthy, too.
“We are optimistic that it will not be anything in the long term,” Grifol said.
Jiménez is hitting .200 earlier this year with two doubles and three RBIs.
