9 hours ago, MackowiakYakYak said:

Robert’s improvement on Ks from 32% to 20% has been a pleasant surprise but everyone needs to slow down on talk about hitting .350. If he had enough plate appearances to qualify his .422 babip would be the highest of single season babip of any player post-WWII. For comparison Rod Carew holds the record with a babip of .408 in 1977.

Interestingly, one of the keys of consistently hitting for elite batting average is walking. If you’re walking it decreases the total number of balls in play over a season and keeps regression from kicking in. Robert is walking half as much this season as last (8% to 4%) so I wouldn’t start projecting historic seasons until he shows he can create an elite approach to hitting.

Yasmani Grandal on line 1.

Highlight reel

 

I'm trying to recall his last HR hit to right/right center

Seems appropriate to bump this after tonight...

We've seen players that collect lots of infield hits have higher BABIP's, but this is pretty extraordinary the last couple of months he's putting up, combined with his batting approach (minus the homers) the first month plus.

Of course, he needs to stay healthy for 145+ games in a single season, that's the biggest test remaining.

Now the pendulum is swinging back towards Mike Trout again, but fortunately he's been able to ascend to his current heights in relative obscurity, other than his highlight reel homers and standout defensive plays.

The only thing that can derail Luis is injuries, with Eloy being a huge risk out there to both himself and Luis. I hope Eloy has finally learn to stay out of Luis way, assuming they continue to trot him out to LF beyond this season.

10 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

Seems appropriate to bump this after tonight...

We've seen players that collect lots of infield hits have higher BABIP's, but this is pretty extraordinary the last couple of months he's putting up, combined with his batting approach (minus the homers) the first month plus.

Of course, he needs to stay healthy for 145+ games in a single season, that's the biggest test remaining.

Now the pendulum is swinging back towards Mike Trout again, but fortunately he's been able to ascend to his current heights in relative obscurity, other than his highlight reel homers and standout defensive plays.

He certainly would not have the obscurity if it were an NY sewn on the pinstripes instead. I hope he continues how he has been going because it is going to be one eye opening October show for a lot of folks around the country.

in 64 games this yr, he has a wRC+ of 163

by comparison, Jose's MVP year in 2020 was 165

Edited September 29, 20214 yr by joesaiditstrue

probably the odds on favorite for next years MVP award.

2 minutes ago, zisk said:

probably the odds on favorite for next years MVP award.

Doubt it but I will be watching his odds when they come out in March.

I have never been awed be a Sox player like the way I am awed by Robert. Was in attendance last night. He's just brilliant. 

Edited September 29, 20214 yr by raBBit

120 games is only about 3/4 of a season

As long as he stays healthy, Robert will surpass The Big Hurt in terms of WAR, offensive numbers, and just overall value due to his position, defensive ability, and speed. He could be this franchise's MVP in it's history, so long as he chooses to stay here.

I know this team has big things coming, and for me the day I'll look back on this rebuild when thinks went from descent to ascent, it was watching the first box scores of the MILB season and Robert hitting 3 home runs in Winston Salem after a worrying first two years of injured false starts. Suddenly we had another superstar and everything looked so much brighter from that point forward.

5.3 WAR in 120 career games. Considering the last month of last season he was pretty clueless at the plate, and probably still isn't 100% physically now,, it's pretty incredible. Looks like since he solved chasing low and away sliders, the league is perplexed. This guy might be Mike Trout with a better arm.

4 hours ago, ScooterMcGee said:

As long as he stays healthy, Robert will surpass The Big Hurt in terms of WAR, offensive numbers, and just overall value due to his position, defensive ability, and speed. He could be this franchise's MVP in it's history, so long as he chooses to stay here.

Frank Thomas is arguably the greatest right handed hitter the game has ever seen. Saying if Robert is healthy he'll surpass Frank's offensive numbers is quite the reach.

Agree that from a complete player standpoint he has a chance to be the best to put on a Sox uniform, but him being better than Frank offensively for his career is probably about 1%.

Edited September 29, 20214 yr by Look at Ray Ray Run

38 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Frank Thomas is arguably the greatest right handed hitter the game has ever seen. Saying if Robert is healthy he'll surpass Frank's offensive numbers is quite the reach.

Agree that from a complete player standpoint he has a chance to be the best to put on a Sox uniform, but him being better than Frank offensively for his career is probably about 1%.

And the chance of Yoan Moncada hitting a homerun last night was 3%. Guess who beat those odds.

58 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Frank Thomas is arguably the greatest right handed hitter the game has ever seen. Saying if Robert is healthy he'll surpass Frank's offensive numbers is quite the reach.

Agree that from a complete player standpoint he has a chance to be the best to put on a Sox uniform, but him being better than Frank offensively for his career is probably about 1%.

That being said...I'd take Luis Robert becoming the greatest player of all time.

2 hours ago, Dick Allen said:

5.3 WAR in 120 career games. Considering the last month of last season he was pretty clueless at the plate, and probably still isn't 100% physically now,, it's pretty incredible. Looks like since he solved chasing low and away sliders, the league is perplexed. This guy might be Mike Trout with a better arm.

Would love to find the Spring Training posts about how Robert forgot how to play baseball when he had a bunch of 3 pitch outs.

5 hours ago, ScooterMcGee said:

As long as he stays healthy, Robert will surpass The Big Hurt in terms of WAR, offensive numbers, and just overall value due to his position, defensive ability, and speed. He could be this franchise's MVP in it's history, so long as he chooses to stay here.

Ok, we all love Luis Robert, but lets pump the breaks a bit on this one.  He has a LOT of long term work to be put into this category.  We are talking about a multiple MVP, batting champion, HOFer.

7 minutes ago, bmags said:

Would love to find the Spring Training posts about how Robert forgot how to play baseball when he had a bunch of 3 pitch outs.

The change in his eye this year is startling.  I figured the guy was going to be a .260/.270 hitter because of his speed covering up his big swing and eye.  If this guy is close to the real Robert, this is going to be a unreal hitter. 

18 minutes ago, Quin said:

That being said...I'd take Luis Robert becoming the greatest player of all time.

Oh, me too. If Robert was a better hitter than Frank Thomas in his career, given his base running and defense you'd likely be talking about one of the two-three best players ever to play the game. He'd be better than Trout since Frank was better offensively than Trout and Robert is better defensively than Trout.

I just think the post was diminishing the greatness of Frank Thomas.

1 minute ago, southsider2k5 said:

The change in his eye this year is startling.  I figured the guy was going to be a .260/.270 hitter because of his speed covering up his big swing and eye.  If this guy is close to the real Robert, this is going to be a unreal hitter. 

It's like mid at bat you see him just go "Ohhh I get it" and either stops chasing and walks because the pitcher doesn't want to throw him anything in the zone, or gets something in the zone and puts great contact consistently.

So gratifying to see that little incredibly ripped 20 year old boy whose shirtless pics I consumed for years on Instagram is now a fully grown baseball star.

Just now, bmags said:

It's like mid at bat you see him just go "Ohhh I get it" and either stops chasing and walks because the pitcher doesn't want to throw him anything in the zone, or gets something in the zone and puts great contact consistently.

So gratifying to see that little incredibly ripped 20 year old boy whose shirtless pics I consumed for years on Instagram is now a fully grown baseball star.

Yeah, the recognition he has now is incredibly better than even pre-IL. 

1 hour ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Oh, me too. If Robert was a better hitter than Frank Thomas in his career, given his base running and defense you'd likely be talking about one of the two-three best players ever to play the game. He'd be better than Trout since Frank was better offensively than Trout and Robert is better defensively than Trout.

I just think the post was diminishing the greatness of Frank Thomas.

All I was saying was he has a chance to pass Frank as the greatest White Sox player in the history of the franchise. He just needs to stay healthy, and stay with the team. I don't see how that is diminishing Frank's greatness...everyone knows he's the best in White Sox history, currently.

Edited September 29, 20214 yr by ScooterMcGee

1 hour ago, southsider2k5 said:

Ok, we all love Luis Robert, but lets pump the breaks a bit on this one.  He has a LOT of long term work to be put into this category.  We are talking about a multiple MVP, batting champion, HOFer.

Dang y'all really love to rain on peoples' parades

1 hour ago, southsider2k5 said:

Yeah, the recognition he has now is incredibly better than even pre-IL. 

There also seems to be a lot less happening in his swing. It looks so god damn easy