BALTIMORE — Eloy Jiménez stood between the third-base line and the visitor’s dugout while the Baltimore Orioles wrapped up batting practice on Tuesday afternoon at Camden Yards.
His former White Sox teammates came over to catch up in waves. There was Andrew Benintendi, Nicky Lopez and Zach DeLoach. Luis Robert Jr. and Lenyn Sosa followed. And then Andrew Vaughn and Gavin Sheets.
There were plenty of handshakes and hugs for the designated hitter.
Later in the evening, Jiménez faced the Sox for the first time since being dealt to the Orioles at the July 30 trade deadline.
Prior to Monday’s series opener, in which he did not play, Jiménez said he was looking forward to the reunion.
“It’s going to be fun,” Jiménez said. “I’m really excited to see them. But at the end of the day, I’m part of the Baltimore Orioles now.”
As he went to do his traditional greeting of tapping the catcher with his bat before his first at-bat Tuesday night, Sox catcher Korey Lee jokingly jumped out of the way.
Jiménez spent portions of his first six major-league seasons with the Sox, slashing .270/.321/.469 with 94 home runs and 291 RBIs in 501 games.
“I’ve got a lot of memories,” Jiménez said of his time with the Sox. “Good. Bad. OK.”
A key acquisition for the Sox in a 2017 trade with the Cubs, Jiménez hit 31 home runs as a rookie in 2019. That’s still his career-high for a season.
He was a Silver Slugger Award winner in 2020, but injuries limited him to 55 games in 2021 and 84 games the following season.
Jiménez played 120 games in 2023, finishing with 18 home runs and 64 RBIs.
Injuries impacted his 2024, as he missed time from April 1-15 with a left adductor strain and May 22 to June 23 with a left hamstring strain. He slashed .240/.297/.345 with five home runs and 16 RBIs in 65 games with the Sox this season before being dealt for minor-league pitcher Trey McGough.
Jiménez did not anticipate being moved at the deadline.
“I was surprised because by that day I didn’t think I was going to get traded,” Jiménez said of his initial reaction to the move. “But (Sox general manager Chris) Getz’s plan was to try to get me here, and I’m here.”
Robert said Jiménez aided greatly when he arrived in the majors in 2020.
“Having him here was a big support for me because when I came up, he was already here and he made his debut the year before, he knew all the things that I was going to experience,” Robert told the Tribune through an interpreter on Tuesday. “He gave me good advice on how to deal with different stuff, him and (former Sox first baseman José) Abreu were big support, big help for me, especially that first year.”
Robert said it was “weird” seeing Jiménez in another uniform, but “I’m happy for him because I know he’s happy there and he’s doing great there, too.”
Asked about the emotions surrounding facing a former club, Sox interim manager Grady Sizemore said, “There’s always a part of you that wants to really go out there and play good against your old team.”
“Every player would say he’s motivated to have a big game against his old team, that’s just the nature of competitive sports,” Sizemore said before Tuesday’s game. “There’s just something about playing your old team, you want to show up, you want to ball out against those guys.”
Sizemore sees Jiménez as a good fit with the Orioles.
“They already have a good lineup and having a guy like that in there just gives them length,” Sizemore said. “He’s a good hitter that can do a lot of things. Helps them out tremendously.”
Jiménez is motivated to help the Orioles in their playoff push. He entered Tuesday slashing .284/.321/.392 with one home run and seven RBIs in 24 games since the trade.
“We want to win, so I try to do my best every time,” Jiménez said. “And being a part of a winning club makes you adjust to certain things and try to do your best.”
Jiménez was around for plenty of the tough times the Sox have experienced this season. He believes better times are ahead.
“It is really hard because at the end of the day you don’t want to lose and you don’t play to lose,” Jiménez said. “It was hard, even when we’re winning, it feels like we’re losing. But I know they’re going to figure it out and they’re going to do a better job next year.”
Sox designate Touki Toussaint for assignment, recall Matt Foster
The Sox designated pitcher Touki Toussaint for assignment before Tuesday’s game and recalled right-hander Matt Foster from Triple-A Charlotte.
Toussaint is 1-2 with a 7.43 ERA, 18 walks and 26 strikeouts in 11 relief appearances this season. Foster has three scoreless innings with one walk and two strikeouts in two appearances (one start) over two stints this season with the Sox since returning from Tommy John surgery.
“We used Touki so much that he was going to be down for a few days,” Sizemore said. “We needed to get some more arms that can throw over the next two days so they could cover us (in the bullpen).”
