Chris Gimenez has only been playing in Double-A ball for a few
weeks and has already experienced his fair share of ups and
downs.
Chris Gimenez has only been playing in Double-A ball for a few weeks and has already experienced his fair share of ups and downs.
But go ahead and count this as the highest point to date.
Gimenez was recently selected as the Easter League’s Player of the Week ending July 15, after giving the Akron Aeros a much needed shot in the arm. In five games, Gimenez batted .474 (9-19) from the plate, had three home runs, five RBI, and was sporting a jaw dropping 1.105 slugging percentage.
“I’m doing pretty good now,” Gimenez said by phone Tuesday night. “It was definitely an interesting week. Hopefully my bad luck is over with.”
The bad luck he is referring to was a slump he encountered after being called up from the Class-A Kinston Indians of the Carolina League. After smacking the first pitch he saw as an Aero for a two-run home run, Gimenez found himself trying to do too much.
“For some reason you start to get comfortable and you’re in a new place and you try to do some different things,” Gimenez said. “I was standing in the box, closer to the plate than I normally would,”
Swinging at pitches he shouldn’t have been, and facing a much better level of competition every night, Gimenez said, “I was really frustrated. It just goes to show you how you’re on the top of the world one day, and the next day you’re in the bottom of the pit.”
For now though, Gimenez is making pitchers look for places to hide. He is not only hitting with astonishing consistency, but also bone-crushing power, evidenced by his 10 extra-base hits in 13 games. Overall, Gimenez is batting .286, has hit five home runs to go with 10 RBI and has a slugging percentage of .694. He has spent almost all of his time playing third base.
The Aeros are currently in first place of the Eastern League, but have dropped their past four games. The team will hope to turn things around as they have five home games in a row before heading to Harrisburg, Penn., for a series beginning Monday.
