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What happpened to Eloy Jiménez? 'RIP Eloy' trends after Chicago White Sox's dramatic tribute goes viral

The Chicago White Sox went over the top with their tribute to Jiménez who is out of action due to a pectoral injury, leaving many fans thinking that the athlete has passed away

Baseball Season 2021 began on Thursday and the Chicago White Sox will be missing one of their best players, Eloy Jiménez who is out of the games due to a highly damaging pectoral tendon injury. The team spent the winter and spring talking about their championship-level expectations for the World Series and it certainly wouldn't be the same without Jiménez even though the Sox have an impressive lineup of bankable players.

 The White Sox opened the 2021 season on the road against the Los Angeles Angels but not before doing a tribute to the injured outfielder. But it was portrayed in a much over-the-top manner on social media leaving a lot of fans thinking that Jiménez was no longer alive. 

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Chicago White Sox tribute to Eloy Jiménez

The official Twitter account of the team posted a photo of a couple of team members holding Jiménez's jersey along with the caption, "with us tonight & always." They followed it up with the jersey and his gloves hanging in the dugout that they shared with a red heart emoji and within no time #RIPEloy became one of the top trends on Twitter. 

"Man ripped his pectoral and died apparently"

The drama served up in the tribute quickly caught on with fans and lot of them didn't hold back when poking fun at this extravagance. "First human ever to die from tearing a boob," read a tweet dripping with sarcasm. "A white Sox player died or did his pectoral muscle die?... asking for a friend who’s a Mets fan lol," wrote another. "Ok so he didn't come on the road trip, but chill out, he's still alive,"wrote another. 

"I can totally relate. My family put our flag at half mast when I broke my collarbone," a user tweeted. "Eloy is now laying there, BBQ sauce on his titties... #RipEloy" read another tweet. "I wanna thank @whitesox for giving us a truly great “baseball team being weird as hell on main” moment on day one of the season. #RIPEloy" read another tweet. 

Here's what really happened to Eloy Jiménez

24-year-old Jiménez was hurt last week in a spring training game against Oakland when he tried to make a leaping grab at the wall on Sean Murphy's home run. This is one of his many injuries since his big league debut in 2019 that has raised many questions about whether he is better suited for a designated hitter than left field. Last year's silver slugger winner had surgery on Tuesday to repair his ruptured left pectoral tendon and White Sox's General Manager Rick Hahn said he's expected to miss five to six months on the field. 

“There’s a chance, certainly, that he beats that traditional timeframe for this type of injury of five to six months,” he said. “But quite candidly, no one’s going to know that for at least 12 weeks until he’s completed the healing process and the rehabilitation side of this injury," he said hinting that the player could make an early return as well.