yes...although the one thing that was a little disappointing for me about him is his arm. Don't get me wrong, he has a strong arm. Its just not the canon it was hyped to be. Still what an unbelievable freak of an athlete. 

Just now, southsider2k5 said:

Because most of this forum wasn't alive then.

Yeah...well, they missed something IMO.

3 minutes ago, poppysox said:

Good fielder but had absolutely no arm.

Was he Pito level?  ALthough might not be fair.  Pito is one of the best defensive 1st Basemen in the league.

2 minutes ago, Stinky Stanky said:

He threw like an 8 year old.  Turned all of four 3-6-3 double plays in his life, IIRC.  (Easy to prove me wrong, cuz I didn't look it up.)

yep terrible arm because he hurt his shoulder playing FB at Auburn. He quit Fb because of the injury. Runner would go first move on our lefties, because Frank couldn't throw them out at 2b  Frank was also terrible at pop ups.

Current Pito way better defensively than Frank, especially throwing & Pop ups. Early Pito had worse hands at 1b, but he fixed that.

It's already been said, but he has 8 WAR upside.  Honestly, he doesn't even need to hit his ceiling to be an 8 WAR player.  If he can stay healthy, he's an MVP caliber player year and year out.  If he can stay healthy, and hit his ceiling, he could be one of the best ever.  The talent is that legit. 

6 minutes ago, kleedawg said:

Current Pito way better defensively than Frank, especially throwing & Pop ups. Early Pito had worse hands at 1b, but he fixed that.

I don't think its a stretch to say Abreu has turned himself into a top third MLB defender at 1B.  Pretty incredible what he's done over there.  Abreu is a fucking man.  Love the dude.  I know this is a Luis thread, but Abreu gets no where near as much respect as he deserves nationally, league-wide, and even among Sox fans.  He's a Sox legend.  So happy they resigned him, and he's already earned every dollar of that $50M. 

12 minutes ago, Colome's Hat said:

Was he Pito level?  ALthough might not be fair.  Pito is one of the best defensive 1st Basemen in the league.

Not even close.  No range, no arm at all.  Jose can also dig it with the best of them.

Men want to be him, woman want to be with him. All hail King Robert. 

Just now, ShoeLessRob said:

Men want to be him, woman want to be with him. All hail King Robert. 

Dude has major swag.

17 minutes ago, Colome's Hat said:

Was he Pito level?  ALthough might not be fair.  Pito is one of the best defensive 1st Basemen in the league.

Pito made himself into a good defensive 1st baseman and is much better defensively than Frank.  IMO Jose is much better than the best Frank was...mainly because of Frank's terrible arm.

The only thing Frank was good at over at 1B was stretching.  As noted, horrible arm, no range, stone hands.   Frank def made the right choice going with baseball because even for a huge guy, he was never very mobile, even in his 20s. He wouldn't have sniffed the NFL most likely given his lateral mobility and speed.

Edited August 30, 20214 yr by chitownsportsfan

If pitchers are included in the conversation, then yes. Sale clearly has/had Hall of Fame level raw tools and that was evident from the first moment we saw him in a White Sox uniform. But on the position player side, no, I don't think so. I've never seen a position player on the Sox with tools anywhere close to what Robert possesses.

2 hours ago, chitownsportsfan said:

He's a baseball savant, KW was right, an incredible scouting find and sell job to JR.  And yes, I think he's the most talented in WS history.  Might not be the best, he need about 60 WAR to pass Frank, but he's the most talented.  He has a 10 WAR season in him if he can stay healthy.

I think Luis is learning how to excel at cruise speed and stay in the game to reach his goals. Longevity is a crucial challenge. He can do it. Him and TA could define the Sox future. 

2 minutes ago, pcq said:

I think Luis is learning how to excel at cruise speed and stay in the game to reach his goals. Longevity is a crucial challenge. He can do it. Him and TA could define the Sox future. 

I almost made a thread on it but TA has put up almost 6 fWAR in his last 160 games.  He's not hitting as much this year but his defense has improved from mediocre to very good at SS.

Luis Robert could be the best player ever. That’s how high his ceiling is.

1 hour ago, ChiSox59 said:

I don't think its a stretch to say Abreu has turned himself into a top third MLB defender at 1B.  Pretty incredible what he's done over there.  Abreu is a fucking man.  Love the dude.  I know this is a Luis thread, but Abreu gets no where near as much respect as he deserves nationally, league-wide, and even among Sox fans.  He's a Sox legend.  So happy they resigned him, and he's already earned every dollar of that $50M. 

Earlier this week I was thinking about the Olympics and how Jamaican track and field fans love Allyson Felix and respect her as a legend even though she doesn't compete for them - she shows them love so they love her back. It's kind of the same thing with Abreu. I watch the way opponents interact with him between plays. They're always friendly and cordial, chatting him and such, pitchers hit him and immediately apologize. 

I think Robert has a chance to impact the game like Robin Yount. He has that much talent.

is there a site where I can buy a road grey Robert jersey with the numbers on the front and back for less than $200 that is good quality?

4 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

I am not going to say this lightly, but the man has Trout tools.  The big thing he needs to do is stay healthy.  If he can play 150 games a season, he will be an MVP level guy.  He has it all.  The Sox have never had a guy with the whole package like Luis has.  We have had a HOF hitter in Frank, but he couldn't field to save his life.  We have had insane defenders, who couldn't hit.  We had guys like Magglio Ordonez who fielded pretty well, and could hit the shit out of the ball, but didn't have ++ speed.

If Luis Robert stays healthy, he is a human cheat code.

This sums up my feelings perfectly. 

Eloy is a generational slugger. But Luis Robert has the tools to be one of the absolute greatest ever, period. This next generation's Mike Trout. 

Of course, this depends on a lot of different variables. However, there's no debating that he all of the pieces are there. 

Two things…

1) It’s amazing he has t even played 100 career games yet. Stays Healthy? He will be a monster! 

2) If he played for the Yankees or Red Sox, he’d be the top vote getter in the All Star Game next year and already have HOF discussions 

Remember how he couldn't buy a hit in August last year?  Who know, it might have helped him long term.

This seems like as good a place as any to drop this:

Some of y'all wanted to nickname him LuBob.

1 minute ago, Quin said:

This seems like as good a place as any to drop this:

Some of y'all wanted to nickname him LuBob.

LuBob is the best nickname he could ever have and it ain’t even close bro ?

I'm very encouraged both by this approach at the plate pre-injury, as well as the fact he's been able to build upon that success since coming back.

That said, it's incredibly premature to be asking questions about him being one of the best White Sox of all time.  The tools are there but there have been a ton of guys who have come into this league as 5-tool threats who just drifted out of the game without ever reaching their potential.  

I'm seriously excited for what he could do for this franchise but let's pump the brakes a bit on the GOAT talk until he plays an entire season or two.