DETROIT – When Joe Jiménez arrived at Comerica Park on Monday, the memory that came to mind was his MLB debut six years ago. His family came to Detroit for that first series after the Tigers called him up. And then he spent six seasons here.
“A lot of good things that happened with me (in Detroit),” Jiménez said.
Jiménez became familiar with this place. The ballpark. The people.
The difference this time?
“It’s a little weird,” he said, “coming from the other side.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Instead of going into the Tigers’ clubhouse, he went to the visitors’ clubhouse. Soon, he used the tunnel connected to the dugout on the first-base side – where the visitors sit – to go to the field.
Jiménez saw a few of his former teammates, like Javier Báez and Jonathan Schoop.
“It’s crazy to be back,” he said. “But grateful to be in the situation that I’m in now with this team.”
When the Braves arrived at this ballpark on Monday, the home team had lost nine in a row and 11 of 12. The Braves, on the other hand, were tied with Arizona for the best record in the National League. If all goes well, Jiménez could be a major contributor on a contending team.
That has been a process.
“This season, obviously, I started a little slow, I would say, but now I’m just getting the rhythm and trying to find my role and stuff,” Jiménez said. “I think everything has come in a good position for me to be successful, so I’m just trying to help the team however I can and in every situation (manager Brian Snitker) puts me in.”
Jiménez entered Monday’s series opener in Detroit with a 3.80 ERA over 21 1/3 innings. After offseason back surgery – which the Braves knew about when they traded for him – he hasn’t yet been the dominant power righty for which they had hoped.
Of course, there’s still a lot of time.
Over his last four appearances, a total of 4 2/3 innings, Jiménez hasn’t allowed a run. Opponents have only one hit against him in that span.
“I’ve loved where he’s at,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He had kind of a slow start to the season. Physically, I mean, I think the back surgery and everything, it’s just taking him a long time to get himself together. We kind of knew that going into it.”
How much of the slow start was due to the back surgery and finding himself again after that?
“Not at all,” Jiménez said. “I don’t think that’s something that ever crossed my mind coming out of spring training, because if I ever felt something out of spring training, I would’ve said something. I think it’s more that I wasn’t able to just get my arm in rhythm in spring training. And obviously, going from spring training to the seasons, it was a little hard for me.”
It took reps for Jiménez to begin turning the corner. To this point, his fastball velocity, on average, has been a tick lower than last season. But he’s averaged around 95 mph over his last two outings, which is more where he should be based on his track record.
He’s getting there.
“As he had had outings, you could see things,” Snitker said. The fastball was coming, the breaking ball was getting a little better. …We just kind of knew it’s gonna take a while because we talked to him about that when we left spring training, he felt good and was ready to go. And we just kind of knew is gonna be a while and he needed to get some reps before he got back to where I think he wanted to be.”
In Monday’s game, Jiménez allowed a walk-off hit to Spencer Torkelson in the bottom of the 10th inning. This run, however, was unearned because a runner starts at second base to begin each extra inning. And the Braves didn’t score in the top half, so Jiménez didn’t have much chance in the bottom half.
Toward the end of his time in Detroit, Jiménez did a bit of everything for the Tigers. He took the good. He clocked the bad. He moved forward.
Now he’s back at Comerica Park, just on the visiting side.
“Learning from other guys that get traded and stuff, it’s always hard to go to work for another organization,” Jiménez said. “I think it’s just the way that Atlanta has received me, as an organization, as a team, the teammates (that has helped). Everything has been great here. For me, it was an easy transition, I would say, just because they grabbed me as a family. I’m just happy to be here.”
Braves applaud Miguel Cabrera
Of course, a meeting with the Tigers means a date with Miguel Cabrera, a future Hall of Famer.
When Snitker managed in the minors, he saw Cabrera, who played for Double-A Carolina. Thus, it didn’t surprise Snitker that Cabrera began tormenting big-league teams.
“It never stopped, from then on,” Snitker said.
Cabrera is a two-time MVP. He has won seven Silver Slugger Awards. He has taken home the batting title four times.
In 2012, Cabrera captured baseball’s first triple crown in 45 years. (This is when a player leads the AL or NL in batting average, home runs and RBIs.)
It has been more than a decade since then, and Cabrera is still in the game.
“I saw Miggy for six years,” Jiménez said. “And for me, it was just unbelievable. Obviously, fighting all injuries and all that, but he stayed the same guy and just came to the ballpark to play baseball. That’s the biggest thing that I learned from him. He was one of the best teammates that I ever had.”
“It’s amazing,” Snitker said. “That’s why they’re Hall of Famers. They’re a different breed, they’re different people. Hall of Famers, they never have a bad year. They have a good year every year.”
