Luis Robert Jr.’s woeful season has taken another unfortunate turn.
Before Sunday’s series finale against the Giants, the White Sox placed their scuffling center fielder on the injured list with the strained left hamstring that forced his early exit from Wednesday’s win over the Diamondbacks.
The team spent the last several days monitoring how Robert felt while keeping him out of the lineup for all three games against the Giants. He participated in baseball activities before Saturday’s game, running and hitting, and the team had plans to make another assessment during Monday’s off day in Southern California. But the decision came earlier. A corresponding roster move will come ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Dodgers.
Robert has put up miserable numbers at the plate this season, batting just .185 with eight home runs in the worst season of his career, which has come in the wake of a disappointing 2024. The breakout season that earned him a Silver Slugger in 2023 seems like a distant memory as Robert has struggled the last year and a half.
A planned cornerstone of the Sox’ previous rebuilding project, Robert was – and remains – expected to be a candidate to be traded before this summer’s deadline. Chris Getz’s front office surely had hopes of Robert returning to the 2023 version of himself and generating enough interest to produce the possibility of a return package that resembled what the GM netted in December’s Garrett Crochet trade.
But Robert’s poor production has seemingly driven down what’s possible for Getz to acquire in a deal, with Robert himself saying last month, “I don’t think anybody is going to take a chance on me.”
Will this injury do even more damage to Robert’s trade value? That remains to be seen, though the things he has done well this season – he leads the AL with 22 stolen bases and has played great defense in center field – are dependent on his legs.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
