Can Jimenez be the 1b of the future?

[broberts]

Luis Jimenez went deep again tonight to make it 13 on the season. He is currently batting .314 with an OPS of .943 with Bowie. If the O's don't aquire Teixeira do you think this kid has a shot? He has good power and avg. should get a september callup along with House, Hoey and others

[justD]

Luis Antonio looked like he was on his way up until he reached AAA with the Red Sox organization at the beginning of this season, then crashed hard and was released - which is when we picked him up. He apparently flourished with the Orioles (Bluefield, I believe) under Bien Figueroa (current Baysox manager) in his first go-round with us, and that may be contributing to his success now. He also has a history of a rather untenable strikeout rate - almost 1 per game average.

Stats from 2006 at AA:

Team League AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG OPS
POR EAS .276 115 395 74 109 22 2 17 70 186 58 90 9 2 .371 .471 .842

Stats from 2007 AAA:

Team League AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG OPS
PAW INT .148 25 81 4 12 2 0 1 7 17 9 21 1 0 .231 .210 .441

Over the last month or so, I've noticed that the strikeouts are diminishing - in the 6 games from July 19th to July 24th, he didn't strike out once...even though he did K 2 of 3 AB today. Hopefully this is a trend, but it's a small sample size.

I've also noticed his "clutchness" if there is such a thing -- he is one you can feel fairly confident of with men on base, as evidenced by the 70 RBI since joining us in mid May.

He's a large dude - he continues the legacy of Pickering and Walter Young and even Leo Daigle, big guys with a lot of power who can move with surprising agility at 1B (well, okay, maybe Daigle wasn't all that agile...). But he's actually been in the lineup just as much as a DH, while a variety of Baysox have manned 1B to see what they can do. I think he may end up in the same position as House - where he's more valuable as a DH, which we already have plenty of.

And he still has to prove himself at the AAA level, in my opinion. That stint with Pawtucket was downright nasty, even if short-lived.

My opinions only...someone like BowieMike is probably a far better judge of such things. :)

[Ruzious]

He's a large dude - he continues the legacy of Pickering and Walter Young and even Leo Daigle, big guys with a lot of power who can move with surprising agility at 1B (well, okay, maybe Daigle wasn't all that agile...). But he's actually been in the lineup just as much as a DH, while a variety of Baysox have manned 1B to see what they can do. I think he may end up in the same position as House - where he's more valuable as a DH, which we already have plenty of.

And he still has to prove himself at the AAA level, in my opinion. That stint with Pawtucket was downright nasty, even if short-lived.

He's big, but he's not as big as those guys. He even stole 8 or 9 bases last year. If he keeps it up for another month, I'd like to see him in Baltimore as a platoon player - as he's much better against righties (12 homers in 158 at bats and an OPS over 1) than lefties.

[Camden_yardbird]

How old is this guy? Thats a big determining factor. He also came from another organizations farm system - which means he has the scarlet A as far as callups go.

[NewMarketSean]

He's 25, so that's not promising... but here are his stats...

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/J/Luis-Jimenez.shtml

[Ruzious]

It is odd that a guy who turned 25 2 months ago has already changed organizations 5 times.

[NewMarketSean]

Stick him in Norfolk and see what he can do there. If he does well maybe he could get called up in September or get an invite to ST next year.

[BowieMike]

While with the Boston organization, Jimenez received the nickname "Lil' Papi" because of his resemblance in size and in swing to David Ortiz. I've been most impressed with Jimenez' ability on the basepaths. This guy can run despite his large frame!

With runners in scoring position this season, Jimenez has hit .302 with 23 RBI and 3 HR. He's doing a better job of cutting down on strikeouts, a problem that has hampered him in the past. Really, I want to see him get a shot in AAA soon to see if these numbers are a result of extended time in AA over the past few years or if he's really turning the corner as a hitter.

[NewMarketSean]

I just hope people don't get freaked out if he goes to Norfolk and his numbers drop due to the stadium dimensions there.