Luis Robert's 2019 regular-season debut was exactly the kind of thing White Sox fans wanted to see. With one exception.
They wish it had happened in the big leagues.
Robert had a huge night as Class A Winston-Salem opened its season Thursday, hitting two home runs, driving in five runs, scoring a pair of runs and drawing a walk. That's a 2.600 OPS, which is, you know, pretty good.
There's plenty of excitement over Robert, who signed a record contract as an international free agent back in 2017. He's got five-tool potential, but it's mostly been scouting reports and exhibition performances that have generated much of the hype. Robert didn't play a minor league baseball game in the United States until last June, and a couple thumb injuries stole away some of his development time and kept his power in check.
So it was good to see that power on display Thursday night. He hit zero home runs in his 50 minor league games last season. He hit two in his first this season.
As with any good news from the White Sox loaded minor league system, one question typically follows: When will this guy reach the bigs?
With Robert, that question is simultaneously easier and more difficult to answer than it is for his fellow highly rated prospects. We know it likely won't be soon because of his limited minor league experience. But at the same time, it's near impossible to guess when because his talent could outshine that necessary experience, potentially giving Rick Hahn one of those good problems to have.
MLB
The general manager addressed all that during his pregame media sessions ahead of Friday's home opener.
"He obviously had a pretty good night last night, so people are ready for him to be here next week," Hahn said. "(Questions about Robert's major league arrival), they're difficult ones to answer. On one hand, from a tool set and talent standpoint, absolutely his tools are as strong as many at the big league level already. However, from a rawness, repetition, staying healthy for an extended period of time, we haven't really addressed those issues just yet.
"He's a guy who last year had a lot of challenges, both with the multiple thumb injuries to essentially having a year, year-and-a-half layoff from the time he last played in Cuba to the time he was finally playing regularly in the States. There's a lot of rust involved in that, not to mention the transition to a new culture.
"I think we're going to be in a much better position to answer questions about time frame on Luis as the summer unfolds and probably at the end of this season have a much firmer grasp. But from a talent standpoint, I understand where the questions are coming from because, yeah, he's got a world of talent and we think he's going to be yet another potentially impactful guy for us for the long term."
What's not at all difficult is to envision Robert joining another highly rated prospect in Eloy Jimenez in the White Sox outfield for years to come. But that might not happen anytime soon. It almost definitely won't happen in 2019, though Hahn said at another point during his pregame talk that the White Sox have called guys up from Double-A before. Robert's not even at Double-A Birmingham yet, a good indication that he'll likely spend all of 2019 in the minor leagues.
But if he keeps doing stuff like he did Thursday, the discussion over his major league readiness will only get louder.
Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the White Sox easily on your device.