White Sox place Robert on IL for blurred vision
The White Sox were back on the field Friday night, signaling the start of the season's second half.
For Luis Robert, the waiting game continues.
The Sox's 24-year-old center fielder came out of last Friday night's game at Minnesota after the first inning. Robert misread two flyballs and said he was lightheaded.
He didn't play against the Twins in the final two games of the series and Robert was placed on the 10-day injured list Friday (retroactive to July 19) with blurred vision.
White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said Robert has had a "handful" of tests in Minnesota and Chicago earlier this week.
"At this point, his symptoms have not fully resolved and as a result we're going to place him on the IL," Hahn said. "That will make him eligible to return next Friday, a week from today when we're back home against Oakland. At this time, we are cautiously optimistic that he'll be able to return at that time.
"I don't have all the information exactly on the timeline but that's very tentatively what we're looking at right now."
Losing Robert for any amount of time is not good news for the Sox. He's hitting .301/.334/.461 and Robert is the team leader in home runs (12), RBI (54) and stolen bases (11).
Being lightheaded and experiencing blurred vision are a worrisome combination not often seen in the game.
"It's health and then it's baseball," manager Tony La Russa said. "It's foolish to say, 'Ahh, what's the big deal?' It is a big deal. Keep your fingers crossed and more for him personally than professionally. Got to be concerned, and mostly about him."
Robert missed a week in late May after testing positive for COVID-19. Hahn's not about to speculate if that's the reason for the outfielder's current situation.
"All I can tell is you I'm not sitting on any information at this time or keeping anything from you," the White Sox's GM said. "I fear speculating about COVID is a third rail in society right now so I don't even want to mess with that. He's seeing the right people, getting the right tests done. Part of the reason he's going on the IL right now is it's more than seven days of inactivity at this point and we need to ramp a guy back up prudently when that occurs.
"Ideally his symptoms are fully resolved in the coming days, we ramp him back up and he's back when we start the next homestand."
Grandal back:
Out since June 13 with lower back spasms and weakness in his left leg, Yasmani Grandal was reinstated from the injured list Friday and was back at catcher for the Sox.
"We are thrilled to have Yas back," general manager Rick Hahn said. "We've seen when he's right what he can do for us both in terms of the offensive presence and the lineup balance he provides, the on-base ability and the power. And the work he's done with our pitching staff over the course of the last couple of seasons."
Grandal played 9 rehab games with Class AAA Charlotte and AA Birmingham and was 9-for-25 (.360) with 2 home runs and 5 RBI to go with 13 walks.
"He looks great," manager Tony La Russa said. "Talked to the folks down in Charlotte. they say they were really impressed with his whole game. We can use his boost."
Streak's over:
Colson Montgomery, the White Sox's No. 1 prospect and 2021 first-round draft pick, was 0-for-4 Friday night for high Class A Winston-Salem.
That snapped the 20-year-old shortstop's streak of reaching base safely at 50 games.