KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Luis Robert Jr. injuring the very same right hip flexor that knocked him out for over half of the 2021 season did not put anyone's mind at rest, least of all the man himself.
"I couldn't sleep just thinking about that," Robert said through an interpreter. "That's the worst feeling. You prepare yourself to be in good condition, good shape to play everyday and you're doing everything right. Then when something like this happens, it's frustrating. You start second guessing why, try to find an explanation why if you're doing everything you're supposed to do to stay healthy and you can't, it's very frustrating. That's the worst part. Mentally, it's tough."
The White Sox indicated that Robert suffered a Grade 2 right hip flexor strain, shortly after placing him on the 10-day injured list on Saturday. The recovery timeline provided was vague, with the caveat with that more could be known in a couple of weeks when the Sox center fielder is closer to the rehab stage. He will not be near ready when his 10 mandatory days on the IL are up, but is not quite staring down the three-month absence that his previous right hip flexor tear required.
"He’s a premium athlete who works his ass off in the offseason," said manager Pedro Grifol. "When you have an injury like this, you can predict a time, but you really don’t know how that body’s going to recover, especially when you’ve built up the work capacity that he’s built up. There’s really no telling. It’s not as bad as it was last time, that’s really good. So we’ll see how it goes."
Robert clarified that his injury is in a similar area, but a different spot than his 2021 injury, which was a Grade 3 hip flexor strain. At that level, the strain is more often just described as a complete tear. From the initial moments of Robert's injury Friday night, there were indicators that this was not as severe. Rather than collapsing in a heap behind the first base line as he did three years earlier, Robert slowly staggered off the Kauffman Stadium field under his own power. His gait was not smooth, but he was walking without assistance in the Sox clubhouse Saturday afternoon before speaking to media.
Still. Robert's mind circled around worst-case scenarios, possible causes, and what more could have been done to a physical routine he trusted to guide him through 150-plus games. The weight of Eloy Jiménez's recent setback was also clearly felt.
"That's the hardest part," Robert said via interpreter. "As I told you guys in spring training, that's what has been a challenge for us: trying to stay healthy. For whatever reason, we can't play together; the full lineup the whole time. That's the hardest part. For the team, that's the hardest part. I can just speak for myself. I play hard, I run hard, and I prepare my body to play that way. This year I've been doing everything just to play that way and to stay on the field. Those are the kind of things that you can't control. Even though you're doing everything right, stuff like this happens."
Dominic Fletcher is starting in center field Saturday, and early indications from Grifol are that he and Kevin Pillar will merely shift their right field platoon one spot over on the diamond. It just happens to come as the rookie Fletcher is weathering a 2-for-16 start with six strikeouts. No one would reasonably ask anyone on this team to replace Robert, but most of the White Sox lineup are working hard enough to fulfill their own original expectations.
"You are going to go through rough stretches," Fletcher said. "Obviously [Robert is] one of the best players in the game. I think just collectively as a team, kind of everyone has to step up and pick up some of that slack."
It's not a big -- nor surprising -- blow to the White Sox's long-term goals if they're at the bottom of the standings this year, as a 1-6 mark was signaling before Robert underwent X-rays on Saturday. There no longer is a perceived contention window staked upon Robert, Jiménez and Yoán Moncada all playing 150 games and hitting their ceilings at the same time.
But the long-term health of Robert's hip, which gave on him as he tried to find a second gear rounding first Friday night, will now be a trouble spot to keep tabs on long after he returns to action the field. And while it might be overblown in a season such as this to worry about the struggle to put players in a position to succeed and develop in the absence of a foundational piece, Grifol did talk about Gavin Sheets moving back to the outfield on Saturday. This is a largely new roster trying to establish a new style of play, but familiar problems are forcing familiar crises of necessity.
"It's going to be difficult, for sure," Robert said via interpreter. "But we have to go out there and do our best as a team. We don't have any other option."
