2021 MLB Players To Watch Out For: Luis Robert
Chicago is on the rise. One of their sports teams is a favorite to exceed many people’s expectations. And no, it’s not the Cubs. Go down to the south side, and Chicago’s best baseball team resides here. Within the team, they have a lethal player named Luis Robert who will be a superstar, mark my words.
Not very often a player has five tools. Normally the meaning of five-tools equates to superstardom. Players like Mike Trout and Mookie Betts fall under this elusive category. The primary five tools are hitting, hitting for power, having a strong arm, being fast on the basepaths, and being exceptional defensively on the field. Luis Robert somehow is able to take all these tools and add a sixth tool, the umami tool. Chicago manager Tony LaRussa described his last tool as an additional gear he amps it up to that not many have.
Don’t let the stats of 2020 fool you. Luis Robert was a serious MVP candidate after the first two months of the season. He had a .298 batting average with 10 home runs. Then September came along. He went 11-for-81 with only one home run. His batting average by the end of the years sank to .233.
“I think if last year would have been longer, I would have been able to put up better stats, even though I think I put up decent numbers,” Robert said through an interpreter.
He did finish second in American League Rookie of the Year voting for 2020 falling only behind Mariners Outfielder Kyle Lewis. Robert’s glove in the outfield spoke for itself, earning a Gold Glove, perhaps the first of many.
When Chicago faced the Oakland A’s in last season’s Wild Card Series, the country received flashes of the type of player Robert could be. Although the Sox lost the series in three, he connected in game two with his first postseason home run. Not only that but a ball that wound up traveling 487 feet in the thick California air. Some say that this is possibly the longest home run ever hit at Oakland Coliseum. The point being, this man has unreal power.
I cannot wait to see what he and his White Sox do this upcoming season. He along with Jose Abreu and Tim Anderson create a talented yet positive, energy-filled environment that could do some serious damage in the American League. I could see him hitting at least 30 home runs with a .290 batting average. In my mind, Robert already “suffered” through his sophomore slump in September. He knows what he has to do now and the league should be very scared.
