When there’s talk about the White Sox only having one All-Star representative, there’s certainly not much debate on whom it will be.
“There’s no doubt in my mind this guy’s an All-Star,” manager Pedro Grifol said.
In powering his team to its first series victory in over two weeks, Luis Robert Jr. reached the 20-home-run plateau for the first time in his career with a towering go-ahead, two-run shot to center in the fourth. And he moved past it in his next at-bat in the sixth, blistering an inside fastball over the left-field bullpen to cap the White Sox’ scoring in a 4-1 win over the Red Sox on Sunday.
“It’s crazy, the amount of power he’s got in such a simple swing,” said left fielder Andrew Benintendi, who collected two hits and an RBI.
The White Sox (34-45) are still sitting a miserable 11 games under .500, in keeping with a June schedule that has been every bit as harsh as anticipated. With Yoan Moncada and Liam Hendriks sidelined indefinitely, a slumping Tim Anderson resting his sore shoulder and Yasmani Grandal leaving the game early after a foul tip struck him in the jaw, their season has been once more defined by injuries and underperformance from a core that expected to do so much more.
But Robert, having missed just three of the Sox’ 79 games, is healthy as a horse, and a breakout season has followed. His lauded pregame shagging routine has produced Gold Glove-caliber defense in center. And while he has always been capable of tape-measure home runs, a torn hip flexor, COVID, blurred vision and a sprained wrist have conspired over the last two years to keep his previous career high for homers at 13.
“Being able to play every day, I feel [I’m] getting better every day, and it’s because of that,” Robert said through an interpreter.
Often sporting a plate approach as aggressive as his talent will allow, Robert is still striking out at his highest rate since his rookie season and still draws walks infrequently. But as his power production has risen in line with the 25-year-old’s massive ability, some incremental progress in his rate of chasing pitches out of the zone has led to exponentially more run production. With 51 runs scored, Robert might pass his previous career high (54) this week in Anaheim.
“The buy-in was slow,” Grifol said of Robert adapting to the coaching staff’s pitch-selection work. “I know for a fact the work has increased, he’s bought in, he’s all in. He’s asking for more, he’s asking questions. A lot of them are. And this lineup is dangerous if we stay in the strike zone. If we don’t, it’s not dangerous.”
“The way that I see it, when you swing at good pitches, you are going to be able to do damage,” Robert said via interpreter.
A three-hit, three-RBI day from Robert was plenty to support stellar results from a modified bullpen day. Rookie Jesse Scholtens (1-2) earned his first career win by pitching four scoreless innings behind opener Tanner Banks. Grifol suggested these types of pitching machinations in the fifth-starter slot could persist for a while, with Mike Clevinger not expected to return from right biceps soreness until after the All-Star break.
The career milestone did not obscure who filled the starring role.
“He’s incredible,” Scholtens said of Robert. “You don’t need me to tell you that to know that.”
Third in the American League in total bases, and second only to Shohei Ohtani among AL sluggers in homers, Robert shot down any notion of participating in the Home Run Derby (though he endorsed teammate Jake Burger for a spot). Robert does not want to be thought of only in terms of his power, and his insouciance only somewhat abetted with talk of the All-Star game.
Maybe his season has been one of few easy pleasures for White Sox fans, but Robert isn’t abandoning the central project.
Robert, via interpreter: “It will be a good accomplishment, but that’s not my primary goal. I want to carry this team to the playoffs and hopefully to the World Series.”
