It’s the dog days of the off season. Manny Machado and Bryce Harper both remain unsigned. A.J. Pollock did just sign with the Dodgers though, so we could be seeing a Joc Pederson trade in the very near future. But until then, I have been busying myself with watching Eloy Jimenez videos.
I cannot overstate enough how good this kid is going to be. After a while of getting lost in a wormhole of videos of him mashing long balls, I realized that his swing looks pretty familiar. After some thinking, the comparison finally came to me:
Miguel Cabrera.
Baseball fans (and White Sox fans especially) are all too familiar with the future Hall of Famer and how he had the ability to single-handedly win games. I mean, his career slash line reads .316/.395/.551. He’s hit 465 home runs and has a career WAR of 70.7. But enough about his stats. What we’re here for is his swing.
And when you compare Cabrera’s swing to Eloy’s…
Wanna see something really pretty? Here's Eloy Jimenez's HR tonight from the open side. pic.twitter.com/WVt3Sahkwm
— Josh Norris (@jnorris427) August 14, 2018
Breakdown
First, notice how both Cabrera’s and Eloy’s left feet are angled slightly backwards. Eloy’s is a little more prominent but you get the idea.
When it comes to their loads, they both use a noticeable leg kick, but also keep their hands low and back in the zone to produce extra loft in their swing. Eloy’s hands are actually ridiculously low. Again, it’s how he produces extremely high launch angles.
They both use big time bend from their back sides to give extra torque needed to produce power.
Finally, they both finish with one hand.
When it comes to comparisons, many scouts think that Eloy will turn into Giancarlo Stanton, but with a better hit tool. While I can definitely see that happening, it’s hard to ignore the swing comparisons between Jimenez and Cabrera. Either way, Sox fans are going to get a good one in Eloy.
