Chicago Cubs Scouting Report on OF Eloy Jimenez

Scouting Report

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Size/Build

Jimenez has a true right field profile, and he’s continued to fill out into that profile, listed at 6’4″ and 205 pounds. You would not get me to blink if you told me the real numbers were as high as 6’6″ and 235, though.

Jimenez is a large human being for certain, but to his credit, he’s put on good weight, adding in bulk and natural muscle rather than “bad” weight.

Hitting

Contact (60) – Jimenez has a very smooth swing through the zone. While he has a bit of load behind his swing, once he begins his approach to the zone, his swing path is pure and without a hitch.

His bat speed is not elite through the zone, but he has very good ability to place the bat head to the ball, getting quality contact with above average bat speed.

Power (60) – While Jimenez does a great job of putting the bat head to the ball, he does have an aggressive approach at the plate, and often, he pursues the first hittable pitch, and puts the head of the bat on the ball.

With his explosive strength, that lead to a large collection of doubles in 2016, but not the amount of home runs that you’d expect if you saw his batting practice displays.

More selectivity at the plate could allow for Jimenez to really access his power even further and bump this grade up possibly.

Eye (45) – Jimenez uses his solid hand-eye to keep from tallying high strikeout rates, but his pitch recognition and zone recognition are not exactly well refined at this point.

Currently, his pitch recognition is far ahead of his zone recognition, leading him not to lay off a ton of pitches and draw walks, going with an aggressive contact approach.

Base Running/Fielding

Speed (45) – Jimenez has above average speed at top speed, but he does take a number of steps to get there, so he’ll likely not ever be a guy who racks up a ton of stolen bases.

Defense (55) – Jimenez is not a guy with elite range in the outfield or a guy who runs the most perfect routes right now on balls, but he’s made tremendous strides in the latter in his pro career.

He’s also shown solid instincts off the bat on balls, which allows him to track balls very well with his average to above-average speed.

Arm (65) – Jimenez has a prototype right field profile with big power and a big arm. His raw arm strength is plus-plus, but he’s working to access that raw strength more consistently.

One thing I did note is that his accuracy has improved as a professional, something that I read reports on from his rookie ball time, stating that he struggled in that area, but I was impressed with how accurate his throws from the corner were in my viewing.

MLB Player Comp

As I reviewed Jimenez’s tape, I was reminded of one of my favorite anomaly players in the current game.

If I were to ask you who has led all of baseball in home runs the last three seasons combined by a dozen home runs over the next closest hitter, it might take a few guesses before you came up with Nelson Cruz.

Cruz came up as a more athletic player, but after injury issues really took away the speed he had in the minors, he’s settled into a very productive power hitter, one of 5 to top 20 home runs every season of the 2010s thus far, and the 4th most since 2010.

Cruz is able to use his impressive power to generate solid BABIP due to the impressive exit velocity that the ball has. That has led to him hitting .270+ the last three seasons, including .302 in 2015.

Cruz also came up with a solid reputation on defense with good athleticism to cover what were okay instincts, but also having a very good arm in the outfield. Jimenez is more instincts and less athleticism with the big arm, but a similar defensive profile as Cruz before his injury issues.

Next: Gleyber Torres Scouting Report

Jimenez got a taste of high-A in the playoffs in 2016, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he opens in high-A in 2017, but it also would not surprise me one bit if he finds himself in AA by the end of the season.

Jimenez was originally compared to Jorge Soler when he was signed, but he could truly be a guy that fulfills what everyone hoped that Soler would do in a Cubs uniform.