Andrés Giménez

Andrés Alfonso Giménez

Bats Left, Throws Right
Height 5' 11", Weight 161 lb.

Debut July 24, 2020

Born September 4, 1998 in Barquisimeto, Lara Venezuela

Biographical Information[edit]

Infielder Andrés Giménez was signed by the New York Mets on July 2, 2015 out of his native Venezuela. His first professional experience came in 2016, with the DSL Mets 1 and DSL Mets 2, where he hit a combined .350 in 62 games. Given his outstanding hitting in the Dominican Summer League, he skipped a couple of minor league levels when he moved to the United States, being sent straight to full-season Class A with the Columbia Fireflies of the South Atlantic League in 2017. While teammate Tim Tebow was gathering all the media attention, he hit an impressive .265/.346/.349 in 92 games as the team's regular shortstop, while 3 1/2 years younger than the average player in the league.

Gimenez continued his rapid progression in 2018, splitting the season between the St. Lucie Mets of the Florida State League and the Binghamton Mets of the Eastern League. In 122 games, he hit .281/.347/.409, with 62 runs scored. He was named to play in the 2018 Futures Game and was an organizational All-Star. He did struggle in the Arizona Fall League after the season, hitting just .125, but not having turned 20 yet, he was much younger that the average player in that circuit composed of the best prospects in all of baseball. He spent 2019 in AA with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, where he hit.250/.309/.387 in 117 games.

Giménez had not posted eye-popping numbers in the minors, but when the Coronavirus pandemic resulted in the minor league season being canceled in 2020, the Mets decided to bring him up with the big league squad, even if they would likely have chosen to at least start the year at AAA had that option been in the cards. He ended playing pretty well, as he hit .263 in 49 games, with 22 runs scores, 3 homers and 12 RBIs. His OPS+ of 102 was actually quite a bit better than that of starting shortstop Amed Rosario, considered a future cornerstone of the team. Without a regular position, Gimenez played 23 games at SS, 19 at 2B and 10 at 3B, as manager Luis Rojas tried to have him in the line-up as much as possible. His solid production did not go unnoticed, and on January 7, 2021, when the Cleveland Indians traded SS Francisco Lindor and P Carlos Carrasco to the Mets, he was one of the four young players they received in return, alongside Rosario, P Josh Wolf and OF Isaiah Greene.

He struggled in his first season with the Indians in 2021 as he was hitting just .180 after 29 games as the starting shortstop and was sent down to AAA on May 17th. He found his strike back with the Columbus Clippers, hitting .287 in 52 games with 13 doubles and 10 homers, and returned to Cleveland on August 8th. He hit .246 in 39 games the rest of the way to finish at .218 with 5 homers and 16 RBIs for an OPS+ of 74. However, he ahd a break-out season in 2022 with the re-named Cleveland Guardians. He was moved from shortstop to second base at the end of May, but was batting over .300 at that point, the move being made to slot Rosario at shortstop (he had been a super-utility player until then). He was named to the All-Star team as a second baseman and got to start the game due to an injury to José Altuve. He finished the year at .297 in 146 games, with 17 homers, 66 runs and 69 RBIs, for an OPS+ of 141. He also led the American League in hit-by-pitches with 25 and won the Gold Glove at second base. In the postseason, he went a combined 5 for 28 (.179) as the Guardians made it to Game 5 of the Division Series before being eliminated by the New York Yankees.

Giménez did not have as strong a season with the bat in 2023 as he had the year before as he slipped to .251 in 153 games, with 15 homers, 76 runs and 62 RBIs. This looked similar to the previous year's numbers, but his OPS+ tumbled all the way down to 98, as he used many more outs to achieve the same results. However, it was another strong year with the glove as he repeated as winner of a Gold Glove at second base, and was also named the winner of the Platinum Glove as the best overall defender in the the American League. In 2024, he made it three straight seasons winning the Gold Glove at second base, as he hit .252 in 152 games, with 9 homers and 63 RBIs, his OPS+ slipping even further, to 82. The Guardians won a division title however, and made it all the way to the ALCS. In two postseason series, he went a combined 8 for 37 (.216) with a pair of double.

For some reason, the Toronto Blue Jays seemed to be unconcerned about his very obvious decline with the bat, deciding on December 10th to swing a trade with the Guardians at the winter meetings in order to acquire Andrés. Accompanying him to Toronto was P Nick Sandlin, while the Jays gave up 1B Spencer Horwitz and minor league OF Nick Mitchell.

Notable Achievements[edit]

AL All-Star (2022)
3-time AL Gold Glove Winner (2022-2024/2B)

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Andrés Giménez

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