Now there’s something you don’t see every day.
Rookie center fielder Luis Robert homered to center field against Carlos Rodon in the White Sox’ intrasquad game Saturday at Guaranteed Rate Field. That was one thing.
Doing it while falling down is another.
It was a sight to see, which tens of thousands have by now thanks to social media, the right-handed hitting Robert twisting on his follow through, losing his balance and tumbling over and through the left-handed batter’s box.
For a moment, it was a scary sight, but Robert gracefully picked up his helmet and took a home run trot around the bases while Rodon tossed his glove in the air.
“He’s a special talent,” said bench coach Joe McEwing, who is in charge of the club while manager Rick Renteria is away for a funeral. “He’s the kind of individual you will pay to watch play. You can come to the ballpark and understand he has the chance to do something special every day in every aspect of his game, whether it’s running, playing defense, throwing or hitting.”
Robert has the kind of talent worth buying a ticket to see, but his career will start in empty stadiums, which hitting coach Frank Menechino said might not be all bad. Should he go into an 0-for-10 streak, playing with no fans would allow him “to ease into it and get comfortable with it and to really check and see where he’s at,” Menechino said.
“I would have loved to see 162 games so he could make adjustments and stuff, but it is what it is and I think he’s just going to go out there, actually see what it’s about,” Menechino said. “He’s going to go out there and be Luis Robert. We’re going to see what he can do. It’s going to be a great test for him.”
Robert wasn’t the only Sox who went deep Saturday. Nomar Mazara, Zack Collins and Adam Engel each homered.
“I think we’re going to score runs,” Menechino said. “And I think we’re going to have guys not feeling like they have to do it all. One through nine can do damage, one through nine can score runs.
“I’m pretty confident in our lineup.”
