Luis Robert Jr. gives the White Sox an All-Star, and not just because the league mandates one on the American League roster.
Robert will head to Seattle for the Midsummer Classic as an AL reserve, although since Aaron Judge is injured, there's a decent chance Robert could start in his place.
And he'd deserve it. If you go by traditional stats, Robert leads all qualifying outfielders in homers (24) and OPS (.912). If you prefer Wins Above Replacement, Robert paces the league
This wasn't always the case. At the start of May, the White Sox's representative was an open question. Robert finished the first month hitting .213/.254/.407 and was at the center of some confusing communication and effort issues. The alternatives weren't promising. Jake Burger made for a feel-good story, but more than likely, the White Sox would've sent a setup man to Seattle instead.
Robert has since put that unflattering episode behind him. He's hitting .309/.373/.662 over 54 games starting on May 1. Somehow he has more extra-base hits (19 homers, 15 doubles) than RBIs (33).
Whether he starts or enters midgame, Robert's in. He just has to remain healthy until July 11. His history warrants that caveat, but he's done everything he can to shed the injury-prone label by playing in 84 of 87 games.
Michael Kopech is hurt
Michael Kopech is also on pace to blast past his previous high MLB workload, but he's been slowing down as the appearances build up, and the White Sox decided to give him a break by placing him on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation.
Pedro Grifol attempted to downplay the roster move as something resembling a scheduled break ...
“We just wanted to skip him one more time, to make sure he’s ready to go in the second half,” Grifol said. “Strong the whole second half. That’s basically it.” [...]
“I’ve always thought prior to coming in here this guy could be one of the best pitchers in the game, I still believe that,” Grifol said. “He’s just got to navigate through a major league season and he’s learning how to do that. We gave him a seven day break and he came back and had three or four great games. Now we’re going to give him another break, give him that second wind, kind of regroup. And he’ll take the ball in the second half and help us stay in this thing or get back to where we feel we can be.”
... but I wish they'd pick a different body part. He joins Romy González, Tim Anderson and Garrett Crochet in the growing pool of White Sox battling shoulder issues, and González was re-assigned to the 60-day injured list in order to make room on the 40-man roster for Bryan Shaw, who took Kopech's spot.
Kopech would still be on pace to throw around 150 innings, which would be a perfectly acceptable total in a vacuum. That just assumes that he'll be able to make every start in the second half, after forcing the Sox to weather one more week without two of their starters. The Sox get an off day today, but they wrap up the first half with six games for the birds (three games against the Blue Jays, three against the Cardinals). Two of those games will have to be bullpen affairs.
