Before the start of the 2022 season, NESN.com is evaluating several noteworthy prospects in the Boston Red Sox organization, using insight and analysis from industry experts to gauge each player's outlook for the upcoming campaign. Next up: Gilberto Jimenez.
There has been a lot of talk about the players atop the Red Sox prospect rankings, but buried deeper on those charts is switch-hitting outfielder Gilberto Jimenez, who is lurking in the lower levels of the system.
Here's what to know:
Jimenez's story
The 21-year-old was a sneaky good signing by the Red Sox, who landed him as an international free agent for just a $10,000 signing bonus after a strong tryout at the Red Sox Dominican Academy.
He has limited professional experience at this point, though, with just 220 games under his belt across three seasons, but he has continued to climb through the minor league levels. After debuting in the Dominican Summer League in 2018, Jimenez impressed in Low-A in 2019. The canceled 2020 season threw a wrench in things but he continued to develop in Single-A in 2021, slashing .306/.346/.405 through 94 games in Salem after earning a non-roster invite to major league spring training.
Scouting report
Jimenez currently is listed as 5-foot-11 and 160 pounds, though he has put some weight onto his frame. As Ian Cundall, director of scouting for SoxProspects.com, put it while speaking to NESN.com last week, "he's built like a college football cornerback right now," and can use his power to his advantage. However, he hasn't quite figured out how to do that.
"The thing with him is he kind of fell back into using his speed as the way to get on base," Cundall said. "And his swing from the left side -- most of the time you're facing righties -- just got really sloppy. He would kind of just throw his hands at the ball, put it in play and use his speed. He got a lot of singles off really weak contact. And that's something that works against Low-A defenses. You can hit for a high average when you're doing it like that. But as you get up against more advanced pitching and better defenses, that's just not going to work. You can't just slap at the ball and run and use that as a way to get to the majors."
Even more alarming is that Cundall believes Jimenez also lost some of that speed -- though it still has the potential to impact his career. But it seems he'll have to figure out how to manage his mechanics as he gets to the higher levels of the majors.
Most likely outcome: A role outfielder in the bigs, if he's able to figure out how to make the most of his newfound power. Jimenez has speed, but that doesn't translate over to defensive talent, so he'll need to improve his offense in order to make a big-league signing worth it.
"He's had success and hit over .300 doing that, and for a lot of players, hitting over .300 is a key benchmark," Cundall said. "But the way he got there is just not translatable and something that's going to work against better competition."
Best-case scenario: An everyday outfielder, though likely not an All-Star.
SoxProspects ranking: No. 9
Jimenez still is a Top 10 prospect in the system, and that says a lot considering he has lots of high-end talent in front of him. In the outfield alone, he must counter with Jarren Duran, who is ranked fourth in the organization by the site.
Fenway forecast
Jimenez still is young, so he has plenty of time to refine the areas of his game that need work. That's not a bad thing, especially considering part of the reason he needs to re-find his way is because he has added physical power.
SoxProspects lists him with an ETA of late 2024, so it will be a while.
