Chicago White Sox promote Robert to Class AAA Charlotte
Luis Robert and Nick Madrigal have been teammates at Class AA Birmingham since early June, and both top prospects are going to be representing the Chicago White Sox on Sunday at the Futures Game in Cleveland.
After that, the dynamic duo are going to be split up for a bit.
Before Saturday night's game against the Cubs at Guaranteed Rate Field, Sox general manager Rick Hahn announced Robert is being promoted to AAA Charlotte.
There is only one more hurdle to clear before the dynamic center fielder lands in the major leagues.
Could Robert be on the Sox's roster later this season?
"Quite frankly, it's premature to really speculate along those lines," Hahn said. "As you've heard me say going back to spring training when asked about Luis and this season, the two primary goals for him were really to get him through the season healthy and, ideally at age 21, acclimate himself well in the Double-A Southern League and perform well at that level.
"Knock on wood, the first part has held true so far, and for the second we feel like he has done a great job so far this year. He's ready for that next challenge."
Robert was not in Birmingham's lineup Saturday night, so his time with the Barons is up. In 56 games with Birmingham, the 6-foot-2, 210-pounder hit .314/.362/.518 with 8 home runs, 29 RBI and 21 stolen bases.
Robert opened the season with high A Winston-Salem and slashed .453/.512/.920 with 8 homers, 24 RBI and 8 stolen bases in 19 games.
Madrigal played 25 games with Robert for Birmingham. They also were teammates at Winston-Salem for most of April.
Robert and Madrigal could hook up again with Charlotte later this season or with the White Sox next year.
"It's pretty incredible to see," Madrigal said of Robert's all-around game. "Whether it's on the basepaths, in the outfield, at the plate, you just see how special a player he is. It seems like one at-bat will go by and he'll look fooled at the plate and the next one he'll be on every single pitch.
"He makes adjustments on the fly. And it's fun hitting behind him, it seems like he's always on base with a chance for him to score every time I'm up. It's been great to play with him."
Trade talk:
With the July 31 trade deadline closing in, are the White Sox going to trade their closer for the third straight year?
GM Rick Hahn shipped David Robertson to the New York Yankees in 2017, and he traded Joakim Soria to the Milwaukee Brewers last season.
Alex Colome is still under club control for next year, so any interest team would have to make a pretty significant offer to get the 30-year-old right-hander.
"It's going to be about market value and balancing what we can get in return versus how we project the role going forward." Hahn said. "We're in a little different spot right now than we've been in the past. First, because we're arguably closer to where we're in a position to make some noise and maybe win something next year.
"Second, because we have fewer expiring guys, meaning guys who are in their walk year of free agency. There's no Soria or (Anthony) Swarzak or someone like that who's hitting their free-agent year. But it's going to come down to market value and balancing it against their potential value going forward."
Safe for now:
Reynaldo Lopez has the highest ERA (6.34) in baseball, but the 25-year-old righty is not in immediate danger of losing his spot in the White Sox's starting rotation.
"I wouldn't go so far as to say anyone has a scholarship indefinitely up here, that they are never going to get optioned if the struggles continue or for something we feel is better addressed in a lower-stress environment or with a little bit of a change in their approach," GM Rick Hahn said. "But for now, he's going to remain part of our rotation heading into the second half.
"He is a kid who obviously had a little bit of an up-and-down season last year but finished the year very strongly, and we had high hopes coming into this season. We've seen flashes of it."