Chicago White Sox: Luis Robert closer to majors than we think?

The Chicago White Sox appear to be leaving the door open for Luis Robert to make the big league team rather than later. Will he earn a promotion to the majors by the end of the year?

Combined with the bevy of trades that amassed top-of-the-line prospects last season, including new top prospect Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert was one of Rick Hahn’s crowning achievements last season.

The imposing young outfielder, signed to a $26 million contract after coming from Cuba, projects as Chicago’s center fielder of the future. And if we’re to believe Chris Getz, he could get a chance to make the future happen quickly.

And after racing off to a hot start with the White Sox Dominican League team last fall (.310/.491/1.027, eight doubles, three home runs, 14 RBI), Robert will almost certainly get a look with Chicago in Spring Training.

In fact, he, Jimenez and others are already taking swings at a pre-season hitters’ camp in Arizona. Here’s a clip of Robert going to work just a few days ago.

No, that’s not someone firing a pistol every time he swings. That’s just the sound of the ball rocketing off of his bat.

Now, we don’t want to get TOO excited about Robert raking the ball during soft toss with a coach. Anyone who remotely plays baseball can hit the ball during batting practice.

But for what it’s worth, the Chicago White Sox director of player development, former Sox infielder Chris Getz, likes what he sees. Here’s what he said to Chris Kuc about the Sox’s two potential star outfielders:

"“(Jimenez and Robert) used the middle of the field just taking a professional batting practice,” Getz said. “There are a lot of people out here (watching) and a lot of people are excited witnessing what they have the last couple of days.”"

Also, Getz suggested that Robert might not start off as far from the major leagues as you might expect. When asked to gauge where Robert might begin his minor-league career, he kept an open mind.

The best way to read that, for now, is that the Sox will monitor how he does during Spring Training and then place him however they see fit. Nothing has been decided yet, obviously. As we all know, no one can truly evaluate Robert’s progress until he sees live pitching.

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However, we can’t ignore that Getz left the door open for Robert to start as high as Class AA Birmingham. And, should he perform the way Jimenez did in AA ball last year, he could see the majors by the end of this calendar year.

Again, we don’t want to heap unnecessary expectations on Robert just yet.

After all, he’s barely halfway to his 21^st birthday. And the White Sox don’t yet entirely know what he needs to work on as a player. To be sure, he’ll need time to adjust to the quality of pitching he’ll see in the big leagues.

Next: White Sox prospect profile: Aaron Bummer

As such, if he started off at Class A Winston-Salem, it shouldn’t disappoint anyone.

But Getz and the Chicago White Sox aren’t hiding excitement over Robert’s potential. And he makes as strong an impression on the big club as we hope he does, the future could start taking shape really soon. And it will be awesome.