Joe Jimenez

Jimenez is in line to help set up for closer Raisel Iglesias again in 2024 after recently signing a 3-year, $26 million contract extension with Atlanta. The 28-year-old is coming off an excellent 2023 campaign that saw him compile a career-best 3.04 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 73:14 K:BB over 56.1 innings. The contact Jimenez allowed was often hit hard (45%) while his average exit velocity allowed (91.1 mph) and barrel percentage (11.4%) both were in the bottom 6% of the league. However, the right-hander continued to miss plenty of bats, as his 30.7% strikeout rate and 32.2% whiff percentage were both in the 88th percentile or higher. Jimenez has closing experience with 20 career saves, but don't expect many chances to arise in 2024 as he's currently 3rd or 4th on Atlanta's depth chart behind Iglesias.

After scaling back on his fastball in 2021, both in terms of pitch usage and velocity, Jimenez threw his 4-seamer more often (64% usage) last season at a career-high 95.7 mph. He mixed in an effective slider (31%) and occasional changeup (5%) to left-handed batters for an arsenal that yielded career-best strikeout (33.3%) and walk (5.6%) rates. Jimenez's 27.7% K-BB% was 8th-best among qualified relievers and he also set personal marks with a 3.49 ERA and 1.09 WHIP. The right-hander's .328 BABIP was a bit unlucky, while his 1.99 FIP and 2.90 xERA indicate his ratios could have been even better. With 20 saves and 58 holds on his big-league resume, Jimenez has enough high-leverage experience to make do on his "closer of the future" tag from long ago. Don't expect an abundance of saves now that he has been traded to Atlanta, who has a deep bullpen with plenty of capable arms for the ninth inning.

Jimenez was once considered a potential future closer in Detroit, but after posting a 7.15 ERA in the condensed 2020 season and a 5.96 ERA last year he's become an afterthought. He's been passed up by the likes of Gregory Soto and Michael Fulmer in the Tigers' bullpen. Jimenez could pitch himself back onto the fantasy radar, but fantasy managers should take a wait-and-see approach until he displays more consistency.

In 2019, Jimenez held opposing hitters to a .243 average and had a 23.0 K-BB%. There were some flaws, most notably 13 homers allowed in 59.2 innings of work. This past season was a dumpster fire; Jimenez's velocity was way down early, he quickly lost his role as the closer and continued his charitable ways with the long ball while pitching into too many deep counts. Jimenez has a terrific slider, and one would think Detroit would tell him to throw it more often and dump his terrible changeup. He only throws the changeups to lefties, but they're 18-for-29 off the pitch over the past two seasons with four homers. If he were to dump the changeup and come to camp with a splitter or a cutter, he could take a much-needed step forward. He will need to separate himself in the eyes of new manager AJ Hinch.

Jimenez mostly struggled through the first half of the season while Shane Greene pitched effectively, resulting in Greene remaining in the closer role until he was traded at the end of July. After taking over as the stopper, Jimenez converted nine of his 14 save opportunities, posting a 31.9 K% with a 15.2% swinging-strike rate, pitching better than the surface numbers would indicate. The long ball was a problem and there is no getting around that -- his 1.96 HR/9 rate ranked eighth-worst among qualified relievers last season. However, the 24-year-old finished the year strong, recording a 1.00 ERA with a 12:1 K:BB and five saves over nine appearances in September. Jimenez should have decent job security as the closer heading into 2020 and has an above-average strikeout rate, but he has largely underperformed given his skill level and the saves will likely be scarce on what projects to be a 100-loss team.

Last year was supposed to be the year that Jimenez finally took over as the Tigers' closer. However, that never happened as Shane Greene pitched well enough in the first half to stave Jimenez off, and then Jimenez went on to struggle after the intermission. He was among the most heavily used relievers in baseball over the first three and a half months, making 46 appearances before the All-Star break. This was after Jimenez made a total of 51 appearances in 2017. It's fair to wonder if all that early work caught up to him, as Jimenez limped to the finish line with a 7.78 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and 4.6 BB/9 in his final 22 outings. That poor run inflated Jimenez's ratios and masked just how good he was throughout the bulk of the season (2.91 FIP, 29.2 K%). It's taken longer than many expected for Jimenez to fulfill his destiny as the closer-in-waiting, but it seems likely that he wrestles the job away from Greene relatively early on.

Being tabbed "closer of the future" doesn't carry quite the same doom and gloom as the Madden curse, but the number of those who have succeeded is a short list. Jimenez is being groomed for ninth-inning duties, picking up saves at every level since he started in rookie ball in 2013 at the tender age of 18. The fire-balling rookie had a rather inauspicious major-league debut in 2017, recording an unsightly 12.32 ERA and 2.11 WHIP in 19 innings for the Tigers. Jimenez surrendered 15 of his 26 earned runs allowed in just four efforts. In the other 20 appearances, Jimenez recorded a still poor but more palatable 4.86 ERA and 1.40 WHIP. Obviously, Jimenez is still a work in progress, but fanning 241 with only 52 walks in 167.1 minor-league innings portends patience yielding a fruitful payoff. With Detroit in rebuilding mode, stashing Jimenez has potential long-term rewards, and who knows -- short-term benefits aren't out of the question.