I'm Officially Comfortable Calling White Sox CF Prospect Luis Robert a Future Stud

Luis Robert.  Ever since his signing last may, he’s been a complete enigma.  Not just as a baseball player, but no one even really knows how to say his last name still.  I’ll pronounce it “row-bear” until the end of time, but I’ve also heard it pronounced “robber” and the standard American enunciation “Robert” as well.  No idea what it actually is, and honestly I don’t even give a shit.  All I care about is if he can put baseballs into orbit on the reg and man CF for the White Sox for the next decade or more. After watching him play in person this spring, I’m surpremely confident he will.

There have been more than a few busts that have come off the island.  Would he be a more consistent version of Yasiel Puig or would he be a complete bust like Rusney Castillo?  These are the questions that have surrounded Robert since making his way state side. The glass half full pessimist in me has been rearing his ugly head every since Robert signed because “White Sox”, but after seeing this kid up close and in person, I am so, SO confident he’s gonna be a stud.  He’s reassuring his talent across all major publications like Baseball America, Fangraphs, etc. as well.  So far this spring he’s put on an absolute show for the masses.

The kid has a much better approach than I’d expect a 20 year old kid to possess who’s getting his first taste of Big League spring training.  On Wednesday, I watched him work an 0-2 count off Reds pitcher Amir Garrett (who also has stud potential) into a walk by fouling off fastballs on the fists then laying off sliders on the back hip and changeups that faded out of the zone.  It was a grade A professional at bat.  He didn’t shit his pants when down 0-2 and his supreme bat control allowed him to fight off tough pitches before taking the free base.  Robert doesn’t go up there and react to pitches as they are thrown; he has a plan of attack.  His next at bat he hit a grand slam:

It’s not the grand slam that impressed me though.  Awesome though it was, his quote following the at bat was even better:

“I knew with the bases loaded he wouldn’t throw me a fastball,” Robert said. “I was looking for a slider.”

Plan. Of. Attack.  All hitters have one, but the good hitters know how a pitcher is going to attack an at bat better than the pitcher himself does.  In this instance, Robert’s brain paid big dividends.  This followed a back field game where he laced a double off Kenley Jensen.  Jensen, lest we forget, is the Dodgers All Star closer who throws a 97MPH cut fastball reminiscent of Mariano Rivera.  Video below:

The White Sox have 2/3 of their future starting OF making their way to Chicago sooner than later in Robert and Eloy Jimenez.  This makes me very happy.  It could eventually make for a top 5 or better OF in baseball when all said and done.

We talked about this much more in depth on Red Line Radio this week.  I was optimistic about the future of this team, but having seen the youth movement first hand over the last 6 weeks in Arizona has me saying to myself “the AL Central is so fucked for the next decade” over and over again.  Have a listen below: