Look at Ray Ray Run

Mike Trout was the best high school player in the country, it wasn't close, but scouts back then definitely over thought his competition level and discrediting his tools and production because of that. You could easily argue that Trout and Josh Hamilton were the two best high school baseball players in the past 30+ years - in my lifetime. J Up was pretty unreal too.

Great but he cited his ceiling as billy butler. If he hit like butler did his first 5 years and played third base he'd be a 4 WAR+ player. He cited Butler because Butler is fat and he wanted to rip burger but Butler had hands of stone and Burger has very good hands. The comparison was poor and as ignorant as when people just compare black baseball players to each other because they're both black. Oh and Butler played 1400 MLB games which is significantly more than 97% of guys drafted after the 10th pick.

Not Sox related, but that man Tre Fletcher has a homer and 2 doubles in his first 4 professional games despite a k rate around 40%. 1120 ops. Kid is going to be fun to follow.

No, bad first round draft picks happen every single year to good and bad teams. In fact, once you get past the 5th pick youd be happy to get a guy that contributes 8 WAR for his MLB career.

Pretty comical to compare a kid who won the award for college baseballs best defensive 3rd baseman to a guy who couldnt even play 1st base at an 8th grade level.

These things really kill me. Celebrity deaths typically don't have much impact on me. I always try to save my emotional attachments for those around me but something about teammate deaths destroys me. The bond. The brotherhood. The love you have for even the guys you don't share the same views, political opinions, and moral compass with is immense. The reality and absolutness of death has always shook me. Its uncontrollable. The bond you make being around your guys 150 days a year in college and even high school+travel is amazing. I go almost an entire year without seeing my old teammates from college and high school - sometimes longer - as I've gotten older but every year we host all the guys at my parents home over the 4th of July - where I'm headed now. Everytime we see each other, it's like we never missed a beat or an at bat. This year it's only going to be 11 of us as families grow and commitments cause us to go a year or two without making the time, but it'll be a great time and is one of my favorite times of year. Even losing one of those guys now would be like losing a piece of myself as I grew up. I cant even imagine losing one of the pieces of the clubhouse while you're playing. Everyone had their roll and their impact and not having that person around leaves such a massive hole. Trout's tweet summed it up so well. I know their mothers and fathers... brothers and sisters... and now their wives and kids. The loss for me, selfishly, would be hard enough but you've bonded with their loved ones and imaging the loss for them just destroys me. It's no different than celebrity deaths and I wish I could seperate my emotions from it like I do theres but something about being in a clubhouse for so long makes it so much more personal even though rationally that makes no sense because it's not my clubhouse in regards to skaggs. Life is so fragile and unpredictable. Sometimes you can lose track of that along the way... until something that feels so personal despite being so distant, slaps you upside the face and reminds you to cherish your time with those who helped you grow because their impacts are infinite despite their life being uncertain. RIP Tyler. You were far too young.

To further this point, this team can afford to keep all of its stars - especially when winning. The sox crying poor should not be a reason to hold a player down when he is deserving and ready for the opportunity. Its funny because I am frequently cited as pro-ownership and supporting the front office but I am probably the most player-friendly person here. It's not that others arent player friendly, but it's because the game is made by the players and they deserve as much of the piece of the pie as humanly possible. I didnt play baseball for 20 years in hope of becoming rick hahn one day and screwing a kid out of a year of mlb pay that he deserves. What it robert comes one year from the top level of mlb retirement benefits and then gets hurt ending his career? Those thoughts bother me. At any other profession on earth I wouldnt be held down just to keep my salary suppressed - that would be illegal. Just because they're richer than me doesnt mean that shouldnt share the same rights.

Really great post (not because you agree with some of my thoughts but because you presented your thoughts and supported them reasonably and under control) and I appreciate you chiming in. I take elongated breas from message boards and the internet frequently because the confrontational style and personal jabs over opinions grows tiresome. I appreciate everyone being respectful and listening. We all want to be right and have our opinions heard - its human nature - which leads to some shouting down the thoughts of others. That hasn't happened here. I remember as a kid finding it annoying when I made a point and my old man asked me to substantiate it... sometimes as internet strangers we find it easier to shout down those who dont agree with us - frequently belittling them - instead of substantiating our opinions and listening to those who dissent. I'm glad that hasn't happened and appreciate the cordial discourse. Good companies, teams and organizations are full of people who have different trains of thought. It's the culmination of those thoughts being implemented with all in mind that separates the successful from the unsuccessful things in life imo.

This once again would mean you think he's ready but want to exploit his service time and labor. That excuse is not valid since it is against the cba even if it does happen. I agree plenty of cant miss guys fail but robert has that safety blanket like Buxton. Roberts tools are simply otherworldly. If you had a power centric prospect with Robert's power and hit grade youd have a potential + big leaguer. If you had a speed first centerfield prospect with his speed, defense and arm grade youd have a legit prospect. If he doesnt hit for average hes a 3 WAR player rolling out of bed with his baserunning, defense and home run threat. If he doesnt steal bases as well or run as effectively but he has an 800 ops with great CF defense you have a 3-4 WAR player. He can contribute in so many facets of the game that you could be horribly wrong about two of his grades and he'd still be mike cameron.

I think our definitions of struggle in this case are just different. Everyone slumps, but not everyone struggles to acclimate themselves to the big leagues. For example, Acuna and Soto have had slumps but they have never struggled to show they belong and are amazing and their year end outcomes back that up.

In somber unrelated news, RIP Tyler Skaggs. Holy sad.

Oh I understand your view entirely but it's against MLB rules and the CBA and service time manipulation isn't ok with me. MLB already exploits the hell out of their minor league athletes. They already underpay most of them for the first 7 years of their careers (likely their most valuable years) and as noted above the Sox do this to push extensions, but Robert has about 50 million reason to say screw your extension, so in reality we're talking about leaving him down solely to exploit his service time and to get 2027 under team control when the sox can just RESIGN him if he's great. I think Robert is a rare case of being so gifted he honestly has nothing left to learn in the minors.

It is entirely possible that Luis Robert doesn't struggle a day in his MLB life. He may have 2 week shortcomings similar to his AA struggles, but it is entirely within the realm of possibility that he physically dominates the MLB similarly. He is that talented.

It might look something like this: 337/405/613 in the MLB - another young player who K'ed at a 27% rate in AA and walked under 8% as a 20 year old in AA last year. 24.25% isn't even worse than league average.

The excuse used for Eloy - which was also complete BS - was that he needed to work on his defense. At least Eloy had a legit deficiency in his game though - he isn't a good fielder. I'd argue he never will be and nothing has changed from last year to his call-up this year, but Robert is quite literally a 5 tool talent showing all of those talents at a very high level.

What has been explained? My apologies, but someone stating something as a fact with zero supporting evidence is not sufficient evidence for me. I am an analytically driven person that makes decisions based on evidence and not hunches or arbitrary cutoffs that have very little barring on potential outcomes. I have asked you, what does Robert need to work on, and why does AA allow him to do that more effectively than MLB? Once again you are citing service time manipulation which would infer you believe he's ready but he's being held back solely for reasons that go against the CBA. I'm not good with that. I also am uncertain why you act like he would not be on the White Sox at 28 if he comes up today. He would be up for his age 28 season. He may not be here for his age 29 season, but if he's great the Sox should be resigning him anyway. Impatience implies that Robert is not ready for the challenge and is being rushed for reasons unrelated to his development. I believe the entire focus of calling up Robert is to continue his development better than he is developing at AA. If you are arguing he needs to work on his K/BB rates; he will NOT do that at AA as he has absolutely zero reason to change his approach because he is absolutely dominating. Baseball changes frequently happen when you struggle not when you're better than everyone else. Robert is one of the most exciting and talented players in the entire Baseball Universe not just in the MILB but in all of professional baseball. I'm a fan and I want to see the best players now that the rebuild is in it's secondary stages. This isn't the beginning; we have players 2 years ahead of him in terms of team control. Let's get him up here and develop him alongside his future teammates.

I told you I've got one week off and that discussion was planned for another day. That was planned for day 3 while on the golf course discussion, but maybe I'll bump it up a day just for you.

I am getting ready to head on a nice 1 week vacation for America Day, and I read some viewpoints I'd love to discuss further but the thread was locked. Let's try to keep this cordial and hopefully people won't take differing thoughts and opinions personal. This was a response that was reiterated in regards to Robert: "Don't even bother, you'll never convince him that rushing Robert to the big leagues due to lack of patience is pure stupidity." I am genuinely curious... what is "pure stupidity" about bringing up a guy on pace to go 30/50 with a 1000 ops at AA as one of the youngest guys in the league? Do you have any data driving this opinion that he would be "rushed" and that it would harm his development? Because, to the contrary, what we have discovered over the past few years as that age of performance vs average age of the league is a much stronger indicator of a players readiness for the MLB level than total at bats; look no further than baseball's evolving trend of calling guys up younger; look no further than Chris Paddack and Fernando Tatis Jr. There is something to be said about a team bringing up their best players. The discussion I'd love laid out is as follows: When is a player ready and when should he be called up? My opinion is as follows: If you are better than players on the MLB roster currently, and you have greatly outperformed your elder peers at your current level, you are ready for the challenge that is MLB baseball. Look no further than Yoan Moncada for a basis of this... Yoan's development had to take place at the big league level because he was not being physically challenged in the minor leagues and could succeed despite his deficiencies. This is where Robert is to me; he's ready, as is clear by the fact that he's the best player in the minor leagues this year, and the only development he has left is MLB adjustments. Learning how to hit AAAA pitching in run scoring environment that is AAA at this moment is not beneficial to Robert. He needs to see big league arms that can locate their off-speed stuff into the zone he is susceptible. That is the only way he'll ever change. I am genuinely curious as to what is "pure stupidity" about bringing up a player who has outperformed all his minor league peers despite being only 21 years old? Anyone who starts by citing an extra year of control is using an excuse that goes against the MLB rules and regulations and is not fair to the players. Also, the extra year of control when someone have already been brought up is just pointless. Robert needs to be more ready next year than he is this year; the only way that happens is if he plays big league baseball this year. Great athletes sometime age worse than their non-athletic peers in baseball; see BJ Upton as a great example. You should be getting everything out of Robert while he's in his physical peak; that is today. Even if he struggles can anyone really argue against either of the following points? 1. Robert would be our best CF'er today on this team as it is currently constructed. Robert would also be our best RF'er today on this team as it is currently constructed. 2. Robert is much more talented than the people he is playing against. 3. Robert is learning nothing at a level in which he is superior, talent wise, when compared to everyone else. And contrary to the point stated by ChiSox, I love to read information that goes against my predisposed beliefs. If you can present a valid case that doesn't focus on service time manipulation, what is it? I'm all ears. How would putting Robert at the one level that would test and advance his growth hamper him? Thanks, and have a great 4th of July holiday!

He's been the best all around player in MiLB this year. If he's not ready then no one is.

Service time exploitation is complete and utter garbage and is not acting in good faith what-so-ever. Just because players havent been able to prove their case in front of an arbiter because it's really difficult to argue something that is subjective... it doesn't make it OK or correct. What is Robert working on in AA right now? The excuse with Eloy was defense centric. What's the made up nonsense regarding Robert? I'm a White Sox fan. I want to see the best players the White Sox have play for their team. Robert is one of those players.

It's July of their junior summers. It is impossible to tell where anyone will be 5 months from now when these kids are 16 and 17 years old.

Paddy's value is solely tied to his finding the lesser valued or unknown. Wouldnt be shocked at all if he found undervalued guys.

The bat is in the zone so damn long too. Guy has a damn near perfect swing from the right side.

So what. Why is this the rationale everyone keeps using? If he's ready he should play. His development needs to happen at the MLB level at this point. Pushing that off to next year helps no one and hurts them next year.

Soto had 459 career MiLB at bats before his call-up. Acuna 1000. Robert has 550.