Rays release former Silver Slugger Award winner

The Rays released Eloy Jiménez from his minor league contract, reports Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. Jiménez had been on the Triple-A injured list for the past 10 days.

This was the second IL stint of the season for the former Silver Slugger Award winner. Jiménez appeared in 40 games with Tampa Bay’s top affiliate. He hit .278/.335/.397 and only managed three home runs across 167 plate appearances. His 43.5% hard contact rate is a little above the MLB average, but not close to the huge exit velocities he posted during his best seasons with the White Sox. Jiménez’s career has been a on a sharp decline since he hit .295 with 16 homers in 84 games for Chicago back in 2022.

After a league-average offensive showing in ’23, Jiménez was batting .240/.297/.345 at last summer’s deadline. The Sox needed to eat some money to ship him to the Orioles. The change of scenery did not turn things around. Jiménez hit .232 with a .270 on-base percentage and one homer in 33 games with Baltimore. The O’s bought him out, and he was limited to minor league offers over the winter. He’ll very likely need to settle for another minor league contract if he stays in affiliated ball. Speculatively, Jiménez could be a target for teams in a foreign league like NPB or the KBO as well.