Houston Astros pitcher Collin McHugh ripped the Chicago White Sox for manipulating the service time of top prospect Eloy Jimenez.
The White Sox officially optioned Jimenez to Triple-A on Wednesday as part of their Spring Training roster cuts. McHugh commented on the news by mocking the White Sox, asking what the outfielder really needs to work on.
Wishing Eloy the best of luck as he goes to AAA to work on…defense? baserunning? creating excess value for a $1.5 billion franchise that hasn’t made the playoffs in a decade? bunting? https://t.co/qJsFq6FpFC
— Collin McHugh (@Collin_McHugh) March 14, 2019
McHugh’s point is well taken. Jimenez is a career .311 hitter with an .878 OPS during his time in the minors. He batted a combined .337 with a .961 OPS over stints in Double and Triple-A last season.
The 21-year-old is regarded as one of the top prospects in baseball and is clearly being sent down for a few weeks so that the White Sox can exploit a loophole in the MLB system that would give them an extra year of control over the player. This practice is nothing new — Kris Bryant was a victim of the system and recently criticized it — and now it’s happening to Jimenez. Maybe the White Sox will use Jimenez’s .154 spring training batting average as their justification for the move.
