You don't often see somebody make a debut in a league and become its president in the same night, but congratulations to Luis Robert just the same.
La Pantera needed only three plate appearances -- or innings, choose your unit -- in the International League to mark his territory in Charlotte on Thursday. He flied out in the first, he hit a sac fly in the second, and when he came to the plate with the bases loaded in the third, he unloaded them with a grand slam.
And if that weren't enough, Robert once again left the yard with a two-run shot two innings later.
Robert ripped a single through the middle for a third hit and seventh RBI in the sixth. Deciding he'd done enough for one night, he then grounded into a 1-3 to end his night at 3-for-5.
Our Man in Charlotte Jonathan Lee talked to Robert after the game. Some quotes:
- "(I) felt confident, I felt comfortable at the plate."
- "(I'm) already used to the buses and things, I just have to get used to flying. I think I'll be able to adapt to it pretty quick."
- "(I) cant wait to get back to my phone and see what everyone is talking about and see the videos of the home runs."
And then there's this one, which lays out the challenge ahead for everybody:
First of all, "the ball doesn't travel much" is usually the excuse deployed for White Sox prospects struggling at Birmingham. Robert hit .314/.362/.518 there.
That line does represent a struggle relative to his performance at Winston-Salem and this opening foray at Charlotte. Fitttingly enough, Robert also homered twice in his 2019 debut with the Winston-Salem Dash, setting the stage for a 1.432 OPS over 19 Carolina League games before Robert moved up a level.
I'm guessing Robert won't quite match that line in the International League, but it's ridiculous that it can't be dismissed out of hand. Part of it is Robert's talent, but the environment is the bigger contributing factor here. Charlotte hitters should think about firing their agents and letting BB&T Ballpark represent them for a few months, because stadiums can't take a cut. A sample of home splits:
- Charlie Tilson: .339/.400/.508
- Daniel Palka: .279/.395/.557
- Adam Engel: .345/.420/.603
- Matt Skole: .305/.446/.642
- Danny Mendick: .299/.395/.494
- Alcides Escobar: .305/.372/.490
- Zack Collins: .284/.381/.580
- Ryan Cordell: .667/.667/1.333*
(*Cordell's sample was only two games, but of course he hit for the cycle in one of them.)
Brett already tipped my thinking with the first comment on the Minor Keys, but if any replacement-level hitter can go to Charlotte and post a .900 OPS -- or .889, in Mendick's case -- is Robert going to show us what a real good hitter does there? If Eloy Jiménez had the same conditions, would Charlotte be halfway to building an MLB-sized park because Jiménez demolished everything behind the outfield?
Any reaction to a one-game sample is an overreaction, but there have been enough ridiculous samples of varying sizes to understand the pattern in play. Yermin Mercedes is about two to three weeks ahead of Robert in writing the same story, going from a productive hitter in Birmingham to an All-Star in Charlotte. His excellent numbers get the same turbocharge at BB&T Ballpark:
- Double-A: .327/.389/.497
- Charlotte: .355/.394/.806 over 8 games
- Away: .318/.385/.545 over 7 games
Mercedes' progress should be a thrilling development, but nobody who has made the jump from Charlotte to Chicago this season has brought anything resembling success with them. Cordell is the most productive hitter of the bunch, and he boasts a .662 OPS. Tilson's got the better OBP, but it's only .301, and that's his entire case. Palka and Collins are A COMBINED 2-FOR-67 WITH 30 STRIKEOUTS.
In this context, when Mercedes starts his Triple-A career by torching International League pitchers, it only registers as mildly intriguing. The same can be said for Robert. He obviously should be better than all the other White Sox and prospects mentioned in this post, but unless his OPS is closer to 1.500 than 1.000, there's going to be no way of knowing from the numbers alone.
That may not be a bad thing. If Charlotte is going to be such a perverted hitting environment for Robert, perhaps it will inspire the White Sox front office to call him up to Chicago sooner rather than later. I'm still not getting my hopes up given what happened with Jiménez -- and Robert probably can't be strong-armed into an extension as easily since he's already gotten paid in his career -- but there are a few differences.
- Jiménez wasn't hitting a golf ball, so the Sox can say he faced real actual pitching in Triple-A.
- Jiménez's defense was indeed a liability.
- Jiménez struggled in his first two months this season.
MLB pitching has posed the first actual challenge for Jiménez in his pro career. He spent the first two months hitting .220/.273/.390 and needed to reconfigure his preparation methods. He still isn't out of the woods -- the strikeouts remain a touch too frequent -- but a .267/.336/.590 line since June 1 is a lot closer to what everybody expected.
The Sox could afford those early stumbles because they didn't project as contenders, and even a world-beating Jiménez wouldn't solve the sinkholes in the rotation. If the White Sox actually intend to take this winter seriously, then they'll actually need all the production Robert can provide in 2020, and so it makes even more sense to give him a running start into it with MLB reps in 2019.
Putting the cart back behind the horse, the Sox first have to make sure that Robert indeed makes a farce of Triple-A pitching. They'll also have to make sure that he doesn't get dinged up or worn down by a pro season that has already comfortably exceeded his previous high in games played. But if we check in at the end of July and find Robert and the insane International League hitting environment living up to expectations, then it's a lot easier to wonder if any additional time in Charlotte will hurt him more than it helps him.
