Robert a more polished hitter in second season with Sox
In his debut season, Luis Robert instantly showed he's a special talent.
The White Sox's center fielder got his promising career started with a six-game hitting streak, and Robert went on to claim American League Rookie of the Month honors after hitting .298/.348/.612 with 8 doubles, 10 home runs, 24 RBI, 22 runs scored and 4 stolen bases over 33 games in late July/August of the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season.
For as good as he is, Robert made it look almost too easy.
That changed, in a hurry.
Major-league baseball is a never-ending game of adjustments, and opposing teams did just that after getting the early read on Robert.
"I think the experience that I had last year was good because I learned from it," Robert said through a translator. "What happened last year was I was too concerned about the curveballs and then when the pitchers attacked me with fastballs, I wasn't able to catch up.
"I learned from that and now I have a better understanding of what they're trying to do and I'm ready for fastballs. Definitely, I'm in a better position right now."
Last September, Robert was in a pretty bad place.
His indecision at the plate took a toll on his confidence - and his batting average. Robert slashed .136/.237/.173 (11-81) with 1 homer and 7 RBI over 23 games in the final month. The right-hander also struck out 32 times in 81 at-bats.
The 6-foot-2, 220-pound athletic marvel managed to adjust back in the final days of the regular season and into the playoffs, and Robert has carried that into this year.
"Pitchers have been attacking me the same way," he said. "They've been throwing me a lot of sliders, sliders that are strikes to balls. But I've been able to recognize that and when they know I am recognizing those pitches, they start attacking me with fastballs and then I'm ready for it."
Still an aggressive hitter and not overly interested in working the count and drawing walks, Robert has nonetheless been on a tear thanks to an effective approach.
Instead of tapping his immense power and trying to pull pitches for home runs, Robert has been hitting the ball to all fields.
"It seems like early on when I played with him, he was trying to hit the moon shot and a lot of times he did," said Sox second baseman Nick Madrigal, who was teammates with Robert in 2019 at high Class A Winston-Salem, AA Birmingham and AAA Charlotte. "But it looks like he's starting to take the basehits when they give it to him. If it's tough pitch on the outside corner, he'll kind of shoot it to right field.
"I think it's a huge step for him. Every game, I feel like he impresses me on the defensive side of the ball and the offensive side of the ball."
A Gold Glove winner as a rookie, Robert hit safely in seven of his last eight games heading into Saturday night's matchup vs. the Rangers at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Robert was 14-for-32 over the surge and the spray chart is worth noting.
Five of the 14 hits were pulled to left field, but 3 were to center field and 6 went to right.
"That's one of the things I'm working on right now, just trying to stay behind the ball," Robert said. "Let the ball come to me and just being able to hit the ball to the opposite field, to take advantage of the whole field. It's still a work in progress and it's something I'm going to do more consistently."
As he continues to progress and gain experience, Robert has the ability to become the offensive terror he's expected to be.
"He is so dangerous the pitchers are not going to want to give into him," White Sox manager Tony La Russa said. "The only way they give into him is if he lays off pitches that work the count in his favor. I was always taught to look at the age and experience of the player.
"He's only going to get better and better and better and a couple of years from now, he'll have more strike zone discipline. Just keep working on improving."