Get To Know Your 40-Man, Leo Jimenez, Better.

We’re not even halfway through the list, so I’m going to have to start working on these. The Jays play their first spring game on Saturday (Ricky Tiedemann will start).

Leo Jimenez, a 22-year-old Panamanian middle infielder who hits right-handed, is one of about 22 middle infielders on our 40-man roster (points for the first person to identify the sole Hall of Fame hitter from Panama; Hall of Fame pitchers are too simple). In November 2021, he was added to the 40-man roster in order to shield himself from the non-occurring Rule 5 draft.

Given that he hadn’t played above Rookie League, he was an odd addition to the 40-man, but I’m sure they had their reasons. His glove was generally good enough to play in the major leagues, thus he could be useful to a team that picked him up.

He spent the majority of the previous season at New Hampshire, where he hit.287/.372/.436 in 76 games with 8 home runs, a 15.9% strikeout rate, and a 9.6% walk rate. As a result, he was called up to Buffalo, where in just 18 games, he hit.191/.338/.238. The good news is that, unlike in the previous two seasons, he didn’t miss a significant amount of time due to injury. Because of several minor injuries, he missed part of April and May.

Although his lack of strength has been criticized, he is still only 22 years old. He continues to get stronger. Leo gained some skill at pulling the ball last year. He should probably do that more.

A question mark surrounds injuries.

In summary, his strongest suit is defense. And he establishes a connection. As he gets older, he appears to be acquiring more strength.