Isaac Stevens | @Roxmilbreport | November 13, 2023
Angel Jimenez is still years away from putting on a Rockies jersey, but it’s important to know his name now.
In my Player Spotlights I will be talking about the chosen players minor league career up to this point, and how I’d project them. I will go in depth on what they do well, and what they can improve on, plus more!
2023 Statistics: (38.0 IP)
3.08 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 11.84 SO/9, 1.42 BB/9, 3.88 FIP, 37.1 GB%, 41.6 FB%, 21.3 LD%, .372 BABIP, 74.1 LOB%
Pro Baseball Journey:
Jimenez signed with the Rockies at just 15 years old in 2019 out of Venezuela. He didn’t appear in any games that season. Due to the cancellation of Minor Leagues in 2020, Jimenez didn’t appear in any games. In 2021 Jimenez was assigned to the DSL Colorado, but due to an elbow injury, yet again appeared in no games. Finally in 2022, he appeared in 10 games for the DSL Rockies posting a 3.32 ERA. With the ’22 success, the Rockies were quick to assign him stateside in the 2023 season. In 10 games for the ACL Rockies Jimenez had a 3.08 ERA.
2023 Season Review:
Whatever your definition of dominant is, Jimenez describes that description perfectly. He struck out people at an elite clip, he limited walks to an elite clip, and simply shoved. He spent his entire 19-year-old season in the ACL, being one of the younger players in the league. Any peripheral and statistic he put up in 2023 all points towards consistency in the future. Stats shown above.
What stands out:
Jimenez has a BIG fastball. He was touching 97 MPH, and nobody in Rookie Ball was able to figure it out. He pounded fastballs up in the zone and it got plenty of swing and misses. As he progresses through the system the hitters he faces will simply be smarter, or more accustomed to high fastballs. So whether or not his success from high fastballs will continue will be something to keep an eye on. It’s also a certain possibility that the Rockies will want him to start throwing lower in the zone to get more ground balls, that’s only speculation however.
Jimenez’s pitch repertoire is ideal for Coors field. He throws a Fastball, Changeup, Curveball, Slider, and a Sinker (Same as Rockies RHP Germán Márquez). We’ve seen each of those pitches work well against the altitude, and just off of that we can assume they will project (there is no access to DSL or ACL pitch data so there is no way to deep dive). The Rockies and their pitching development have a very pure pitcher in Angel Jimenez, so they have lots of time to tweak his pitches throughout the year.
What is concerning:
Despite his big fastball velocity, his off-speed pitches do lack that same velocity. It very well could be related to his age, but it has impacted his numbers the last two seasons. His mid 90’s fastball is great, but the rest of his pitches are low 80’s. That has led to more hits being given up than there should be. As he progresses through the system those holes will be exposed more than they would at the DSL/ACL levels.
Jimenez gives up a lot more flyballs than ground balls, and the more balls hit in the air lead to more homeruns. That is not an uncommon theme for flamethrowers though. Rockies MiLB Pitchers like Michael Petersen, Jarrod Cande, and Jeff Criswell also have high flyball numbers. More precision in accuracy would force more groundballs, and with Jimenez’s absurdly low 4.1 BB% in 2023, I believe that is obtainable.
What does the future hold:
Angel Jimenez is eligible for the Rule 5 draft, so if he is not selected in the Major League portion of the draft then he could be selected in the Minor League phase. The Rockies would have to add him to the 38-man Triple-A roster for other teams to not select him. Even though he’s not made it past rookie ball, it’s still a possibility. For instance, former Rockies MiLB outfielder Walking Cabrera was selected in the Minor League phase by the Mariners despite him not playing above rookie ball.
Assuming he stays in the organization, the Rockies will be patient with the young arm. There is a ton of potential behind his big fastball, and the Rockies see that. He will almost certainly start 2024 in Low-A Fresno. After Low-A the Rockies usually assign players to higher affiliates based on success, and I expect the same for Jimenez.
Angel Jimenez will be talked about a lot in the next couple of years. Get used to seeing his name.
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