Luis Robert Jr. Is Slugging His Way Into MVP Conversation 

Luis Robert Jr. has always posted solid numbers but he has never been able to stay healthy long enough for those numbers to become great. 

On Monday night, Robert launched his 22nd home run of the season and his fifth in his last seven games. This came after a two-home run performance on Sunday where he went 3-for-4, drove in 3 runs, and scored two more, accounting for all five of the White Sox runs.  He also made a great play in center field to rob the Red Sox of a scoring opportunity. That performance came a day after he ripped a 103 mph home run to left field on Saturday. 

For years White Sox fans have had to hear about all the talent that is on the roster with little to show for it. Robert is one of the few beginning to bear fruit. Before Monday’s game, he was named the American League Player of the Week after batting .444 with a 1.635 OPS and four home runs.

Robert will not only be an All-Star, he is also going to get MVP votes. Currently, he is second in the American League in home runs and has already surpassed his previous career high of 13. Robert leads all MLB outfielders in home runs, and expected batting average, ranks second in home runs per at-bat and slugging percentage, and sixth in OPS. 

If that isn’t enough, he is also one of just five White Sox players to ever have 20 plus home runs and 20 plus doubles before the All-Star break, joining Frank Thomas (1993,1994,2003), Magglio Ordonez (2000), Jermaine Dye (2008) and Jose Abreu (2014,2019). 

Robert isn’t just getting it done on the offensive end, he has been a Gold Glove-caliber center fielder this season. The 25-year-old is tied for fourth amongst all MLB outfielders in Defensive Runs Saved and is in the top one percentile in Outs Above Average. 

Beginning To Buy In

All it took to turn things around was an improved off-season training plan and a wake-up call early from being benched early in the season. 

Pedro Grifol admitted that the “buy-in was slow” for Robert. But as the season has gone along he has become more engaged, asked questions, and put in more work on the side than he has in years past. 

Getting benched by Grifol on April 29th for not hustling to first base seemed to be the kick in the pants Robert needed. The White Sox were in the midst of a ten-game losing streak. During that stretch, Robert had just four hits, and his season slash line sat at .213/.248/.407. These are not exactly the numbers you’d expect from the highly touted five-tool player.

Since getting benched he has raised his batting average by .059 points and is single handily winning games with his offense and his defense, as we witnessed on Sunday. 

During spring training, Robert said that he spent more time on the baseball field than he ever did during the offseason. The results speak for themselves. 

“I spent more time on the field running, doing more defense and hitting. Doing the same kind of drills we usually do in spring training,” Robert told reporters before the season. “In the past, I just went to the gym, hit in the cage and there were only a couple of days I went to the field.” 

The scary thing is that he could be even better. Robert’s weakness is his plate discipline. 

His chase rate and walk rate are in the bottom ten percentile in the MLB. Robert’s 39.7 percent chase rate is down from his 43.2 percent mark last season. His walk rate is up from 4.2 percent to 5.0 percent. We already see the jump he has made this season by slightly improving those numbers. If he can further improve his plate discipline, he could emerge as one of the toughest outs in baseball.