A review of Luis Robert’s week is also a highlight reel
It’s a good thing Luis Robert signed a contract extension before the season.
Normally, that kind of sentence includes a clause that adds a cynical or cautionary twist, because otherwise it’s a banal statement of fact. And maybe it is, but just like a table full of Korean side dishes, sometimes the bowl of the bland stuff hits the spot at a given time. It’s not like you have to eat all of it, so you can just take what you need.
If I wanted something sour, I could’ve added, “…because Rick Hahn would have to take the governor off his golf cart to speed away from the questions about service time.” This doesn’t seem like the time. The forces compelling Robert to sign the extension weren’t fair, but the contract itself is fairly utilitarian. Everybody benefits from Robert starting Opening Day, and Robert had enough leverage to avoid getting nickel-and-dimed. I’d say that maybe the White Sox quartered him, but that means something else entirely.
So, it’s a good thing Robert signed a contract extension before the season. If you still feel that sentence is lacking and need a “because,” here’s one:
Because you can simply watch Robert’s rules of order from the first week of spring training and feel excitement with no strings attached. He hit for the cycle in the first week, drew a walk, stole a base, made some plays. It’s all good, and without qualifications, which will hopefully be a trend.
From the beginning:
Sunday
A lineout:
Tuesday
A hustle triple:
Thursday
A resounding double:
Saturday
An opposite-field single (followed by a steal):
He came from off the screen to make a catch behind Eloy Jiménez in left field:
And to cap it off, a 113-mph home run.
He seemed to run into a little bit of a heat check, nearly getting picked off second by the catcher, only to get thrown out at third after overrounding the bag on a 5-4-3 double play attempt. This is Robert’s motor, for better or for worse, and whether you’re talking about the last week or the last year, it’s been mostly for the better.
After the injuries of 2018, please do not tempt fate!
His swing was so smooth and easy on that homerun….special
He’s gonna be better than Eloy, and Eloy will be special.
That’s the exact thing that I thought. I’ll even go out on a limb and say he will be better than Moncada. Just having those three in the first part of our order is something special. I can’t imagine any team will have a better threesome than that in a couple of years.
Not the kind of threesome I’ve been asking for but it’s certainly better than nothing!
I recall some people described Luis Robert as “The Outfield Version of Yoan Moncada”. It will be a delight to see if a friendly rivalry develops between the two.
Jim, you crept right up to the doorbell of the non-cynical, non-cautionary house… and then you chickened out!
This genuinely surprised me, though I’m definitely not on top of it. If someone made me guess I’d be like, “I dunno… 6?” Would have bet $5 on Adell.
Callis has Adell at 65 power/60 run. So, close.
Robert is not even in the frame when Gallo hits the ball. I can’t believe he ran all the way over to the yellow ad before Jimenez could get there.
Robert’s speed is so deceptive. His long legs dont really look like they are moving fast but he is really flying.
Pantera Loca!
Robert should be our leadoff hitter. I want him batting as often as possible each game. It’s where he wants to hit, and it’s where our lineup could best use him.
I’d start him at the bottom of the order because I think he’s going to struggle on pitches out of the zone. No need to throw him to the wolves. Let him play defense while minimising the number of AB’s he gets early on and evaluate again on May 1st.
batting him at the bottom of the order is going to get him more breaking pitches than putting him in front of moncada and abreu. i think they’d be better off putting him at 1.
Pretty sure that at this point there’s zero actual evidence that lineup spot has a bigger impact on how hitters are pitched than scouting reports. They shouldn’t give him the most PAs on the team until he shows he’s got the hit tool and plate discipline for the spot. I’m a lot more confident he’ll show power when he does make contact, making him more useful lower in the order out of the gate, than in his ability to make contact and get on base in the first place. He’ll also have more freedom to run the bases with worse hitters behind him compared to at the top of the order.
The last time I was this excited about something like the debut of Mr. Robert in center field 26 days before the actual event was in the early 1960’s anticipating my eventual Christmas gift of a a Daisy BB gun. To those who may have a further interest in this youthful gift I did not shoot my eye out …by an inch. About 6 months latter I was shooting with my friends at plastic 2 inch green army men( another stable of the early 60s pre- adolescent male) on a concrete ledge . One of my shots ricocheted directed back at me impacting 1 inch below my left orb. Even my youthful self quickly lost ardor for this ‘toy”. I am very confident 6 months hence this September 2020 I will still be in rapture with the play of Mr. Robert with my two functioning intact eyeballs dimmed only by my tears of joy and my old age.
If you go and see him in person, maybe get a seat behind the net.
Hey I played with Army Men too and I’m barely 30!
Which army man was your favorite? I always liked the guy with the bazooka.
Any answer that’s not “guy crawling on belly” is obvious trolling!
Guy wading through water.
Reported (to the guy with the brick phone to his ear)
Guy with binoculars has his eye on you. And I don’t mean Ian Kinsler or Chris Sale.
Bazooka guy always saw crawling guy and blew his shit away in my sandbox.
We came home for lunch from school. My Mom made noodles with tomato soup on it to feed her staving children. I put a small kneeling Japanese figure in my brothers bowl. He was so hungry, he eat it. He’s still mad at me.
I always knew you were trouble lj. I pity your poor brother.
Dude throwing a grenade was my favorite.
Somebody please introduce LaPantera to the band Pantera. A walk up song of Domination would be incredible…