Better Late than Never

It took Eloy Jimenez until his second game back to deliver, as in a three-run, eighth-inning homer to give the White Sox a 5-3 win against the Royals in Kansas City. Eloy also made two nice catches in left field and threw a runner out at the plate. And a tip of the cap to Royals’ manager Mike Matheny for deciding to walk a slumping Jose Abreu (one for his last sixteen, according to The Athletic’s James Fegan) to get to Jimenez. Not a move I would’ve made. The fact, pure and simple as well as for better or worse, is that Eloy is a star around whom other players orbit. Just ask Andrew Vaughn, who was moved over to right field so Eloy could play left; Vaughn made his first outfield error that resulted in a run. But allowances have to be made for a player who can hit a clutch, 459-foot homer. I also wonder what Yermin Mercedes makes of the Eloy Show, given how alike the two are in some ways. They are both intensely emotional players who love playing to the fan base. The difference is that, so far, Eloy has shown he can hit throughout the course of a season. I hope Mercedes is studying how Eloy does it. The two of them hitting back-to-back in September—wouldn’t that be something?