Robert drawing rave reviews from White Sox teammates
When they open the 60-game regular season a week from Friday with a game against the Twins at Guaranteed Rate Field, White Sox fans are likely to be focused on Luis Robert.
The rookie center fielder has all the tools, and the Sox signed Robert to a six-year, $50-million contract in early January even though he's yet to play in a major-league game.
White Sox teammates got a long look at Robert during spring training, and that's spilled over into the last two weeks of summer camp.
The early reviews are trickling in, and they are loaded with raves.
"He's got all the tools," White Sox starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel said. "When somebody signs a pretty good deal before they even get to the big leagues, you know they've got a real shot to be special. And he knows that, which is great. But he also puts in the work.
"I see him over with (Jose) Abreu all the time and (Edwin) Encarnacion. He's a guy that really wants to take it to an extreme. I'm not big on nicknames, I don't know if he came up with the 'La Pantera,' but I started calling him that myself just because the guy is a freak. He could be something special for years to come, so I wholeheartedly know why the front office tried to lock him up before he even got to the big leagues."
Over the weekend, Robert hit a home run off Carlos Rodon while he was falling down in the batter's box.
He singled, stole second base and scored Tuesday while also making a tough running catch look easy. On Wednesday, Robert ripped an RBI double down the left-field line.
"I mean, you can't even tell how young he is," said left-handed pitcher Ross Detwiler, who faced Robert Wednesday. "You just think you're around a veteran. He fits in very well, he's a really good player. It's going to be fun to watch him grow throughout this year and get comfortable. It's always good to watch him run down a ball in the outfield, too."
Summer breeze:
Dallas Keuchel was perfect in Wednesday's White Sox intrasquad game, retiring all 11 hitters he faced.
The veteran left-hander got the first nine outs while throwing just 34 pitches. Coming back out for the fourth inning, runners were placed on second and third to give Keuchel some work pitching out of a jam.
He got Leury Garcia to ground to second baseman Nick Madrigal, who threw out Yermin Mercedes at the plate, and finished his day getting Andrew Vaughn to ground out.
"It went really well," Keuchel said. "I felt a little lethargic, but not every start is the same. During the course of a regular season, you have about 7-10 starts where you throw really good and the rest are just coin flips. Today was one of those days where it was a coin flip but I managed to make some pitches when I had to."
Troubling times:
In an interview with USA Today, White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf expressed concerns about major-league baseball being able to play through the coronavirus pandemic, not only this season but in 2021 as well.
"I'm very worried about next year," the 84-yer-old Reinsdorf said. "I don't know how much money we are going to lose. There are just so many unknowns. When we had the long layoffs in (19)81 and '94 (with baseball's work stoppages), we had some idea it was going to end. And once it ended, we would be back to normal. We not only don't know when this will end, but when will normal come back?"