With less than a week left before Opening Day, the Chicago White Sox find themselves in desperate need of a hard-hitting outfielder.

That’s because Eloy Jimenez, one of their best hitters, may be lost for the season after suffering a ruptured left pectoral tendon while trying to prevent a home run during an exhibition game. The injury will require surgery that will keep the young Dominican star sidelined for at least five months.

That means he won’t return until September – if he comes back at all this year.

Jimenez suffered the injury when he tried to make a leaping grab at the wall on a ball that turned into a Sean Murphy home run in the second inning of Chicago’s exhibition game against the Oakland A’s Wednesday. Jimenez’s left arm barely moved as he left the field with a trainer.

“He got hurt trying to make a play,” said Sox general manager Rick Hahn in a conference call Thursday. ”Was it the right decision to go for that ball, especially in the context of spring training? Perhaps not, but fundamentally you like the fact that he was trying to make the play.

“At some point, we’ll talk to him and talk through a plan about perhaps making some better decisions or what we are (expecting) of him from a defensive standpoint.”

The Sox, picked by many to dethrone the Minnesota Twins as champions of the American League West, now have to find someone who can not only play left field but fill a huge power vacuum (31 home runs during his rookie season of 2019). The 24-year-old outfielder hit .296 with 14 homers during the pandemic-shortened season of 2020 and was batting .319 this spring with five extra-base hits in 50 trips to the plate.

Replacing Jimenez won’t be easy for Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa, lured out of retirement at age 76 for his second stint as White Sox manager. The Sox lack outfield depth and may need to dip into the pool of still-unsigned free agents, including Yasiel Puig, Josh Reddick, and former New York Mets slugger Yoenis Cespedes, whose younger brother Yoelki is in the organization but not considered ready for the majors.

In-house options include light-hitting speed merchant Billy Hamilton, who came to camp on a minor-league deal, and returning reserve Leury Garcia, though the Sox could shift promising rookie slugger Andrew Vaughan from first base to left field in order to get his bat into the lineup.

The Sox reached the playoffs as a wild-card entry last year after posting a 35-25 record, one game behind the front-running Twins in the AL Central, but lost the Wild Card Series to the Oakland A’s, champions of the AL West. The Chisox have not won a pennant since 2005, the same year they won the third world championship in team history (also 1906 and 1917) and had not appeared in postseason play since 2008.

Just three years ago, the team lost 100 games. But a rebuild was under way.

That rebuild included the acquisition of Jimenez and three other prospects from the crosstown Cubs for veteran left-handed pitcher Jose Quintana. It was the first deal between the Chicago teams since 2006.

Hahn said the team will consider internal options as it searches for a replacement. According to the GM, Vaughn will now get some reps in left field.

A first baseman stuck behind American League MVP Jose Abreu with the Sox, Vaughn hit so well this spring that La Russa had him pegged as a potential designated hitter.

The former USC standout and Golden Spikes Award winner, the third overall pick in the 2019 amateur draft, signed with the Sox for $7.2 million. Because minor-league baseball was suspended last year, he lacks Double-A or Triple-A experience. But the Sox think he could be one of those rare players who vaults directly from college to the majors.

Vaughn, 22, is one of the bright young hopes for La Russa, who is 43 years older than Abreu, the senior member of his club. “You’ll see him out there as much as possible in the last (exhibition) games,” a frustrated La Russa told Jay Cohen of Chicago’s WGN radio.

“Our biggest concern is Eloy. He’s the guy who’s hurt. He’s the guy that’s got to go through the rehab. As a team, you look at what you have, not what you don’t have. We don’t have him, but we have other guys. It’s not going to be an open spot. Somebody’s going to play there.”

The White Sox roster also includes such fuzzy-cheeked youngsters as outfielder Luis Robert, 22; rookie second baseman Nick Madrigal, 23; and starting pitcher Lucas Giolito and Dylan Cease, both 24. Infielders Yoan Moncada, 25, and Tim Anderson, 27, are other key members of the club’s youth movement, along with Jimenez and Vaughn.

The team added some veteran balance during the off-season, signing coveted closer Liam Hendricks and outfielder Adam Eaton, making a return trip to the club, as free agents. Both are 31, a year younger than catcher Yasmani Grandal and pitcher Dallas Keuchel. Chicago also traded for Lance Lynn, at 33 the oldest member of a pitching staff.

While losing Jimenez is a gut-punch for a team with title expectations, it is not an elimination blow, according to Hahn. ”Obviously it’s a difficult loss for us, important part of our offense, and one that is a bit of a shock to the system,” Hahn said Thursday. “At the same time, if there was one area of this team that perhaps could withstand a significant blow, it would arguably be on the offensive side of things.”

Jimenez was part of the White Sox quartet who hit four straight home runs last Aug. 20. In the shortened season, the team hit 96 home runs to lead the AL Central. That total ranked third in the majors during the 60-game season.