Laura Albanese: Mets’ Luis Robert Jr. can be the club’s secret weapon
Mets supervisor Carlos Mendoza repeated it typically throughout spring coaching, as if it had been an incantation.
If he can keep wholesome. . . if he can keep wholesome. . . if he can keep wholesome. . .
That’s the caveat with Luis Robert Jr., a five-tool participant who was an All-Star and Silver Slugger with the White Sox in 2023 earlier than his legs mainly disintegrated from underneath him — hips and knees and quadriceps and calves that merely refused to cooperate, sapping him of enjoying time and reducing his worth till David Stearns was capable of snag him for Luisangel Acuna and a pitching prospect.
You can’t fault Mendoza for his laser focus. While it is no secret that Robert is proficient, Opening Day and the six weeks of spring coaching that preceded it level to one thing extra. The centerfielder has the potential to be this season’s magic ingredient. . . if he can keep wholesome.
“The sky is the limit,” Mendoza mentioned earlier this month. “We’ve seen it. In 2023 when he was healthy, he was one of the best players in the league. The tools are unbelievable. He’s a guy that can go get it in the outfield. He’s got speed. He can steal bases. He can hit it as far as anybody in the game as well. There’s a lot to like. We’ve just got to keep him on the field.”
I’ll take it one step additional. If every part goes proper (though, honestly, does it ever?), Robert can exceed what he achieved in 2023 — a yr wherein he had a .264/.315/.542 slash line with 38 homers, 80 RBIs and 20 stolen bases and was 12 outs above alternative in the area.
For one factor, Robert is barely 28, that means he is proper in his prime. For one other, he wasn’t totally wholesome even in 2023, battling a number of lower-body accidents that might recur the subsequent two years.
He was additionally “the guy” on a Woebegone White Sox workforce that did not have an iota of the firepower branded by this iteration of the Mets. The 2023 White Sox had the second-lowest OPS in baseball, and when you exclude Robert, the beginning lineup’s WAR was under zero. Juan Soto alone had a 5.3 WAR in 2023.
There are different elements, too. The Mets are being exceptionally cautious with Robert. He did not get into spring coaching video games till mid-March and he will not be enjoying on daily basis. Sure, that may restrict his manufacturing, but when it means he can trigger havoc in October, so be it.
Mendoza additionally identified one thing after the Mets’ 11-7 win over the Pirates on Thursday: Robert goes to chase. He had a 40.6 chase proportion in his All-Star yr, which was in the third percentile in baseball. If a leather-based sphere was thrown in the identical ZIP code, Robert was going to attempt his darndest to fail at it.
Except on Thursday, he did not.
In the first, he fell behind 1-and-2 in opposition to Paul Skenes, fouled off the subsequent three pitches and finally laid off a nasty sweeper that broke outdoors for ball 4. It’s one at-bat, which implies an entire lot of nothing, however it’s a constructive preliminary signal. Skenes, regardless of not having his finest stuff, remains to be Skenes. And Robert has been working to restrict his chase price. The end result was a 2-for-4 afternoon with two RBIs, a run scored and a strikeout.
“We know he’s going to chase,” Mendoza mentioned. “But you watch that whole at-bat right there against a pretty good arm where he gets behind, he’s able to foul off some pitches. . . [It’s a] credit to him and a credit to the hitting coaches because they’ve been behind the scenes in spring training. That’s been a point of emphasis — doing damage with pitches he can do damage with.”
Even a barely improved chase price may assist Robert exponentially, particularly contemplating the present he routinely placed on throughout spring coaching batting follow. The energy may be very a lot there, and it is spectacular.
He batted fifth on Thursday due to how he “looked in spring training,” Mendoza mentioned. “We just continue to create balance.” It additionally lengthens the lineup a very good bit — sufficient that Mendoza had sufficient flexibility to bat Marcus Semien seventh and Francisco Alvarez ninth.
There was one more reason Mendoza trusted Robert in that function, too.
“The track record,” he mentioned. . . anticipate it. . . “when he’s healthy.”
