Imrem: Is hype over Sox signee Robert overblown?

The White Sox reportedly signed 19-year-old Cuban sensation Luis Robert and he has quite a challenge ahead of him.

Live up to the hype, young man.

Hype? What hype? You mean that hype?

All MLB.com did was quote “one American League international scouting director” as calling Robert “the best player on the planet.”

Maybe Earth or was he talking about Krypton?

We'll assume Krypton for now.

Regardless, Robert already must be better than Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and Kris Bryant.

That would be Trout, Harper and Bryant combined.

Nobody has proclaimed Robert to be better than Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Barry Bonds put together.

Maybe that will come after Robert plays his first game in Class A.

This is what professional baseball has come to in this media era: News is everywhere all the time, 24 hours each day, all 12 months of the year, every decade.

Neither the clock nor calendar has any way to rein in the runaway coverage.

Cubs fans learned everything there was to know about Bryant from the night he was drafted to the day he made his major-league debut.

Bryant's father was so well-known by then that he drew a crowd of reporters during batting practice in Wrigley Field.

One player on the current watch list is Yoan Moncada, whom the White Sox acquired from the Red Sox for Chris Sale.

By the time Moncada arrives on the South Side this season we'll be made to believe that he puts his pants on both legs at a time.

TV has beamed back to Chicago some of Moncada's games with Charlotte. His statistics are all over the internet. Sox minor-league personnel are available to discuss him.

The days are over when a youngster can sneak into the major leagues without the pressure to be “the best player on the planet.”

Robert is baseball's hot item of the moment and it won't be long before fans clamor to peek at him in a White Sox uniform.

As for Moncada, nobody knows for sure how good he will be — Hall of Famer, perennial all-star, serviceable, flop, whatever.

Moncada has been the second baseman tearing up Class AAA but also the one who didn't distinguish himself during a short stop with the Red Sox last season.

Trash cans are full of wadded scouting reports that weren't worth the bat speeds and fastballs they were based upon.

For all the Bryants who burst into instant stardom, as many other can't-miss players miss. Some high-priced, high-profile, high-hope Cubans have made it but some have disappointed.

Still, it's exciting when a team gives $25 million on someone like Luis Robert, allegedly a five-tool player — hit for average, hit for power, run, throw and field.

It's especially exciting for Sox fans, who embraced a rebuilding plan and follow the organization's minor leaguers as intensely as its major leaguers.

A player like Robert is easy to project as a foundation block for the future even if that future is expected to be sometime after his 21st birthday in 2019.

My goodness, imagine how much we'll know about Luis Robert by then, perhaps even that his real name is Louis Robert or even Robert Lewis.

Whatever Robert is in a couple years, some other 19-year-old already will be hyped as the “best player on the planet.”

Earth, Krypton or both.

mimrem@dailyherald.com