Preliminary diagnosis for Eloy: torn hamstring

It didn’t look good on the field, it didn’t seem sunny postgame, and late Saturday night came preliminary confirmation that, indeed, the news on Eloy Jiménez was real bad.

Last year, you’ll recall, it was a torn pectoral muscle late in spring training that kept Jiménez out until July 26, missing the first 99 games of the season. Based on Tony La Russa’s math, Eloy thus could be out for as long as three months — but, more likely, two.

Jiménez, who will have missed 47% of his eligible MLB career games due to injury (presuming he returns in two months), was visibly shaken in the training room after the game — as were many of his teammates.

After a healthy spring training, Jiménez already has battled a sore ankle (in-game foul tip injury) this season, missing three games. He’s been good so far for -0.1 WAR and a .229/.263/.343 slash.

Jiménez, while a bit of a loper in left field, has surprising sprint speed to first base. However, he has struggled with his base-running technique in the past. Today, he landed awkwardly on the back of first base while running.

Recall also that Eloy missed all but two plate appearances in the 2020 playoffs after taking an awkward cut running through third base near the end of the regular season.

Ending on a kind note, presuming this split-screen video is running in real time, oft-injured Twins center fielder Byron Buxton had Eloy’s back as the crestfallen young star was being carted off of the field.