Luis Robert: ‘I want to get to Chicago and maintain the relationship with Cubans'

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Luis Robert’s 30-30 season has been the talk of the White Sox farm system this year.

The Cuban outfield prospect talked to Charlotte Knights TV in a Spanish language interview posted on YouTube with English subtitles. He talked about his standout season and a variety of White Sox-related topics.


“Everything starts in the offseason and spring training,” Robert said. “I felt good and I was healthy the whole time and that helped a lot.”

Robert played just 50 games in 2018 due to a thumb injury and still wears a protective glove on that hand when he runs the bases to prevent another injury. His breakout year started with a solid showing in the Arizona Fall League and then continued with him mashing his way through three levels of the minors.

The 22-year-old entered Saturday hitting .330/.379/.625 across all three levels with 31 home runs and 36 stolen bases. He has a .983 OPS in Triple-A Charlotte in 44 games.

Robert played for manager Omar Vizquel last year for 32 games with Single-A Winston-Salem and another 56 games for him in Double-A Birmingham this year. He said Vizquel gave him words of encouragement in the middle of his big year.

“Since last year he’s given me advice and this year when I improved my swing he told me that I can achieve whatever I want,” Robert said.

Robert said he likes the La Pantera nickname he has been given and is starting to catch some notoriety. He also is looking forward to playing in Chicago, but didn’t say anything about expecting to be called up this year.

“I want to get to Chicago and maintain the relationship with Cubans,” Robert said. “With the bat, my job is to win a championship with the White Sox.”

The Knights entered Saturday tied with Durham for the wild card spot in the International League with three games left in the season. On Friday’s White Sox Postgame Live Ozzie Guillen said he would bring up Robert after the minor league season ends.

“I think it’s easier for him to strikeout like four times in a row in September then come back next year,” Guillen said. It’s cold as hell Opening Day… Right now just bring him here. Enjoy the city. Enjoy your teammates. If you’re 0-for-20, fine.

“We would love to see him, but sometimes you’re better off thinking with your brains than your heart. The White Sox have something. They know what they’re going to do. They have a plan. They’re going to stick with the plan. If it was me, I would call him up just because of that. Not to please the fans, not to please the media just to please my player and to please the organization, to say thank you."

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