Jiménez designated for assignment; De Los Santos recalled
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KANSAS CITY – The Marlins designated for assignment infielder Leo Jiménez and recalled rookie first baseman Deyvison De Los Santos on Thursday afternoon.
Jiménez, whom Miami acquired from Toronto on March 29 for prospect Dub Gleed and future considerations, hit .199/.306/.259 with four doubles, two homers and 14 RBIs in 194 plate appearances. The Marlins used him around the diamond, as he appeared at third base (40 games), first base (11), designated hitter (nine), second base (seven) and shortstop (one) this season.
"It just came down to the actual performance just never really got going," manager Clayton McCullough said. "A lot of the things that we liked about Leo, we still like, and he just wasn't able to really get it going and kind of meet some of the expectations or some of the projections we had on Leo to this point."
With the recently promoted Graham Pauley and Jared Serna on the active roster, plus the eventual return of second baseman Xavier Edwards, the 25-year-old Jiménez was going to see his playing time dwindle. For a left-handed-heavy club looking for options against southpaws, the right-handed-hitting Jiménez had worse splits against lefties (.547 vs. .581 OPS).
Jiménez's departure opens up an opportunity for De Los Santos, who is in his fourth stint with the Marlins this season. In limited Major League action, De Los Santos has gone 3-for-9 with one double and three strikeouts.
De Los Santos' addition gives the club another slugging first baseman option – but from the right side – to complement left-handed batters Kyle Stowers and Griffin Conine. He could also see reps as the DH.
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The 23-year-old De Los Santos had a slash line of .277/.342/.496 with 18 doubles, one triple, 21 homers and 70 RBIs in 102 games for Triple-A Jacksonville.
"He's made some strides," McCullough said. "A lot of times, [we] probably forget how young a player he was. Been in Triple-A now for a number of years, but he's shown some real improvement, especially offensively. Felt like this was time now [with] a few weeks left [of the] regular season and beyond that he's earned a chance to come back up here."