On Monday, Luis Robert Jr. made a very niche kind of franchise history when he stole a homer from Matt Chapman by bringing the ball back from over the center field fence. Sports Info Solutions said that Robert became the first White Sox player with two April home run robberies in the 20 years they've been tracking the stat.
Robert then committed two more robberies on Tuesday, but it was a far pettier brand of larceny. He took two putouts away from Eloy Jiménez in right field, and in a way that makes me question his judgment and/or motives.
If we only had to consider the first run-in, it could've been written off as standard miscommunication on a 50-50 ball. Kevin Kiermaier hit a standard fly to the right-center gap in the second inning. Jiménez appeared to be far more demonstrative in calling for it, but it required a similar effort from both players to get to the spot, and Robert ended up making the catch.
Jiménez tapped his ear at Robert after the catch, either to say that he couldn't hear Robert calling for it or Robert needs to listen, but they exchanged a low-five on the way back to their positions, so Jiménez might've been willing to consider it water under the bridge.
Jiménez took the second contested fly ball personally, and he should have. Two innings later, Bo Bichette hit an opposite-field fly well within the right fielder's jurisdiction. Jiménez squared it up, he called for it verbally and with hand signals, and Robert still cut in front of him.
Jiménez wasn't as willing to shrug this one off. In the immediate aftermath of the play, he pointed to his ear again, then gave Robert an earful.
That wasn't the end of it, either. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. followed Bichette in the batting order and cracked the next pitch to deep right-of-center field. Robert, who was shaded that direction, raced back, tracked it with confidence, found the spot, turned to face the infield, and caught Guerrero's fly.
But after the ball nestled in his glove, and before he returned the ball to the infield to keep George Springer at first, he looked directly at Jiménez.
After the inning, the Toronto broadcast showed Jiménez and Robert discussing the play in the dugout, with Jiménez breaking out a tablet to show what Robert had missed.
The videos present Jimenéz's case well enough, but you can also compare the paths of each player on Statcast. Robert had every reason to pursue the Kiermaier fly with an intent to catch it, and if he called for it, Jiménez would've been obligated to back off. The Bichette fly? That was Jiménez's all the way.
Either way, it didn't appear that the visual evidence settled matters, because the NBC Sports Chicago feed showed Elvis Andrus talking to Robert during the ninth inning ...
... and then Andrus further explaining something to Robert in front of Jiménez as the production shifted to the postgame show.
I suppose this is why Rick Hahn praised Andrus' leadership when the White Sox re-signed him, but that's a sidebar to the far more pressing question: What happened to Robert?
Perhaps the boundary issues in the outfield are Robert overcompensating for his collapsing production at the plate. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts on Tuesday to run his slump to 3-for-44 with 17 strikeouts over his last 11 games, yet Pedro Grifol insists on batting him leadoff.
Grifol's confidence should be shaken by now. In between Robert's on-field encounters with Jiménez, he missed the cut-off man on Kiermaier's triple, costing the Sox a potential play at the plate. Combine all of those elements with Andrus' late-game intervention, and an in-game benching wouldn't have been out of order.
The problem with sitting Robert this afternoon is that either Robert replacement -- Oscar Colás or Adam Haseley -- is a poor matchup against Toronto lefty Yusei Kikuchi. It goes to show that the White Sox can only absorb a temporary disappearance from Robert. Any ongoing issues will sap the lineup of whatever upside remains after the injuries to Yoán Moncada and Tim Anderson.
If there's any silver lining, we've never seen Jiménez take something so personally. He could afford to play Goofus to Robert's Gallant in 2020 when their future roles and stardom seemed guaranteed. Three years later, Jiménez has to prove that he's worthy of regular outfield play on a team that's now 10 games below .500 with five days remaining in April. He shouldn't have to accept Robert zooming in recklessly on his territory, because even if he didn't have pride, he'd still have to worry about his health. Jiménez has plenty on his plate holding down right field, so he shouldn't also be forced to defend his honor.
