White Sox: Luis Robert living up to billing, will play in majors this season

Does Luis Robert have what it takes to blaze a trail to the majors and help bring the Chicago White Sox back to relevance faster than expected?

Luis Robert still has a long road ahead of him before he finally seals his place in the Chicago White Sox lineup.

But man, if you’re a White Sox fan and you’re not buzzing about what he did yesterday, I don’t know what to say.

After Rick Renteria gave Robert his first start of Spring Training yesterday, Robert responded by giving the White Sox a 14-12 win over the Cincinnati Reds in “grand” fashion.

Check this out.

First of all, even though it’s Spring Training and Jackson Stephens isn’t exactly Kenley Janson, give Robert points for his poise in this clutch situation.

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Also, I love the fact that Robert blasted a curveball out of the park here. After all, one of the hardest things for young players to do is adjust to breaking pitches at the major league level.

Sure didn’t look like a problem here, though, even on the first pitch. He waited on it and smoked it for a no-doubter.

On top of that, Robert also flashed his defensive range in the outfield with a running grab in the right-center field gap. In short, the talented young outfielder has wasted no time whetting peoples’ appetites for the future. And his team has raved about his athleticism, calmness and work ethic thus far.

And hey, speaking of Jansen, he’s shown he can hit him, too.

Now, Robert’s .300 average (one homer, four RBIs and two walks) in 10 at-bats won’t exactly land him on the big league roster at the end of the spring. He’s still ticketed for Class A ball soon to continue his development as an everyday player.

But if he destroys minor league pitching at the lower levels, I imagine he’ll end up in Class AA before too long. And once that happens, he’s just a step away from the majors. In fact, assuming he continues on this trajectory, he’ll be a September call-up. No question.

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We’ve only seen Luis Robert in a short sample size, but he’s been everything people billed him to be thus far. And if he keeps making huge impressions like this, he could fast-track himself to the big leagues faster than expected.

In the process, maybe he and Eloy Jimenez can ramp up this rebuild and put the Chicago White Sox on the map before we know it.