On Tuesday night, Luis Robert Jr. was asked if his poor season at the plate has been all the more frustrating to go through while he has been relatively healthy, something that hadn’t been the case because of significant injuries that limited his playing time earlier in his career.
“Honestly, yes,” Robert said through team interpreter Billy Russo. “I thought being healthy was [going to make me] able to perform the way I did in 2023. But that’s the way it is.”
Three days later, Robert doesn’t even have his health.
The White Sox center fielder was out of the lineup with a tight hamstring, the same injury that forced his early exit in the victory Wednesday against the Diamondbacks.
Manager Will Venable said Robert is day-to-day but available off the bench and has, at least to this point, avoided a trip to the injured list.
“We feel good about where he’s at coming out of the off day [Thursday], but we know things can change,” Venable said. “We’ll take it day by day and see.”
It’s the latest hurdle for Robert, as he reaches the halfway mark of a miserable season with a .185 batting average and .584 OPS.
With two home runs in a five-game span, Robert was looking to some as if he was coming out of a seasonlong slump. Certainly sending a pitch into the seats Tuesday was the kind of thing he was supposed to be doing regularly when he was pegged as a cornerstone of the Sox’ previous rebuild.
“I felt like I used to feel in the past,” Robert said Tuesday. “Those were the kind of pitches I wasn’t missing before. It was good to be able to put the bat there to hit the ball and get that result. That was the part I’ve been missing this season.”
But even Robert wasn’t about to declare himself back.
“I can’t say that right now,” he said, asked if the homer he hit a few days earlier in Toronto had turned things around for him, “because I still don’t feel like I’m [there with] my hitting.
“It was a pitch in the middle of the strike zone, and I was able to put the bat on the ball and take advantage of that mistake. That’s what I used to do before, and that’s what I’m trying to do now.”
Robert had some briefly sustained success during the Sox’ road trip through Texas earlier this month, with seven hits — three of them for extra bases — and four RBI in five games.
But in his last nine games, which featured that pair of home runs, he has been as bad as ever, going 3-for-27.
And now this hamstring injury.
Even if that proves to cause only a brief absence from the lineup, it’s symbolic of the Murphy’s Law of a season Robert is having and throws another wrinkle into any plans Chris Getz’s front office has to get something for Robert at the trade deadline.
Last month, Robert said, “I don’t think anybody is going to take a chance on me,” when asked about his trade prospects, a reflection of how poorly things have gone at the plate for him.
While that might not end up true — Getz disputed that notion and has said teams have inquired about the 2023 Silver Slugger — it appears it will be difficult for the Sox to extract the sort of value it once seemed Robert would net in a trade.
Robert is still stealing bases and playing good defense, but he’ll have to turn things around in a big way and in a big hurry if he’s going to bring back a return of significance for the Sox’ latest rebuild.
But first thing’s first, and that’s getting over this bout of hamstring soreness. Then it’s on to fixing everything else.
“I’ve been working hard every day,” Robert said Tuesday, “trying to get rid of this situation, this moment that I’m passing through.”