With 'warrior' mentality, Eloy pushes forward

This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin’s White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

KANSAS CITY -- Eloy Jiménez didn’t seem in a very talkative mood, at least at the start of his conversation with me and three other media members prior to Thursday’s 10-1 loss to the Royals.

And to be honest, who could blame him? Jimenez once again was addressing what became Friday another trip to the injured list due to a left adductor strain, in this instance, and a role he has unfortunately played far too often during his six-year-career. When I asked Jiménez about frustration coming from these injuries, he forced out a smile and I thought was going to respond with a “What do you think?”

Jiménez has answered that way before in his frequently upbeat, comical nature when quizzed about a topic deemed somewhat obvious. The White Sox designated hitter was not in a truly comical mood Thursday.

“It is frustrating, you know?” said Jiménez, with his usual gregarious nature reduced to low volume introspection. “Right now, it's just move the page and keep going.

“Things are going to happen. Sometimes I want to go home, but I don't want to give up like that. I'm going to keep working. I'm going to be here for my team.”

The “go home” part from the 27-year-old caught my attention. So, I followed up with whether that idea was born out of frustration.

“Yeah, sometimes. Remembering all these years with everything that happened, it's really frustrating,” Jiménez said. “Especially when you've been feeling good, and you've been preparing yourself good and something happens.

“At the end of the day, I'm a warrior. I'm going to keep pushing and I'm going to keep working and I'm going to be there.”

Over 439 games and 1,788 plate appearances since joining the White Sox, Jiménez has been a productive force when healthy. He has 89 career home runs, launching 31 as a rookie in 2019, and won a Silver Slugger during the COVID-19 season of ’20 when he played 55 of 60 games.

He's also injury prone, or better put, injury unlucky. It’s not any sort of judgment on the 6-foot-4 designated hitter, but simply a fact when looking at the list of maladies from a rupture of his left pectoral tendon in Spring Training 2021 all the way through an appendicitis he suffered while the team was in Cincinnati from May 5-7 last season.

These problems won’t make Jiménez more cautious.

“Not really. I'm never worried about pushing it,” Jiménez said. “I'm just asking myself, 'What next? What are we going to do to get out of it?' It's just keep working.

“I've been working my [rear] off every single day, and I've been putting in the work that I need to put in. Sometimes things happen and you don't know what to do, but at the end of the day I'm going to find out.”

Running will be the biggest test for Jiménez after feeling something pull in his groin area after taking two steps out of the box on a ground out in Sunday’s series finale against the Tigers. His grimace was noticeable on that first or second move, leaving him out of action for the time being.

Eventually, Jiménez believes good fortune will come his way as he plays in the final guaranteed season of a six-year, $43 million deal with a $16.5 million club option for 2025, an $18.5 million club option for ’26 and a $3 million buyout. Or better put, it would be good healthy fortune.

“At some point, it's going to be,” said Jiménez, who hit 18 homers and 23 doubles over 120 games in ’23. “I know because I've been working. Someday it's going to be another side.”