DETROIT -- The education of Eloy Jimenez continues on a daily basis, and sometimes the changes are noticeable even from at-bat to at-bat.
Take the White Sox left fielder’s effort during Chicago’s 9-7 loss to Detroit on Thursday afternoon at Comerica Park. Jimenez grounded out and struck out in his first two trips to the plate against Tigers starter Tyson Ross, but he launched a two-run homer to right-center in the sixth to give the White Sox a 3-2 lead.
So what changed for Jimenez in this particular instance?
“I was trying to pull the ball,” said Jimenez, who has three home runs and eight RBIs, including his first long ball against an American League Central rival. “That one I just tried to stay through the middle, and I know I have pop to change the game just with one swing. I don’t try to do too much. I just try to get a line drive through the middle.
“Now I’m getting it better on that, because the first two weeks, I was just trying to hit the ball to the left side. It’s not me. Now I’m getting my confidence back.”
Jimenez, who entered the 2019 campaign as the No. 3 prospect per MLB Pipeline, also showed his improving patience by working an eight-pitch walk against closer Shane Greene with two outs in the ninth. The big right-handed hitter was able to either lay off or foul off Greene’s offspeed offerings, which Jimenez has seen a steady diet of since coming to the big leagues.
But this development process is as much about Jimenez’s defense as his offense. Detroit pushed for the extra base in situations involving balls hit to left, with Gordon Beckham scoring from first in the second on Grayson Greiner’s double into the corner for the game’s first run. It was Jimenez’s first look at spacious Comerica Park.
“This field is big. Now I know. I’m going to do a better job with getting the ball and throw it as quickly as I can if they are going to keep running,” Jimenez said. “It’s a process a little bit. ... It was a little bit harder, I guess.”
While players such as Jimenez, Yoan Moncada and Tim Anderson draw a great deal of the focus as the team’s youthful big league core, a player such as Ryan Cordell is trying to put his name into that group. The 27-year-old was called up from Triple-A Charlotte prior to Thursday’s setback, and manager Rick Renteria plans to use Cordell as an everyday player in the outfield.
In his first start since replacing Daniel Palka, who was optioned to Charlotte following Wednesday’s loss, Cordell homered to give the White Sox a 5-4 lead in the seventh and finished with three hits. Renteria intends to give Cordell some opportunities in center field.
“He had a really nice game today,” said Renteria of Cordell. “We battled, we fought admirably. That’s not what people want to hear. They want to hear a victory at the end of the day as we do. Everybody battled. Cordell was a big part of that fight. Good start for him.”
“My first couple games last year in September, feeling those exciting emotions of being in the big leagues for the first time I think were good for me going into this year,” said Cordell in a recent interview. “Just feeling a lot more relaxed and calm like I had been there before. Definitely felt a lot better this year from getting those experiences in September last year.”