What a couple of days for the White Sox farm system. Oregon State middle infielder, Nick Madrigal, was taken with the 4th overall pick last night followed by the first-ballot member of the baseball guy name hall of fame, Oklahoma outfielder, Steele Walker. Speaking of outfielders (that’s what we call a segue here in the writing biz), Luis Robert is officially set to join a minor league affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.
Here’s the announcement:
The Intimidators are pleased to announce that Luis Robert, Major League Baseball's 25th overall prospect and White Sox's 3rd best prospect, will be joining the South Atlantic League's top team!
Welcome to Kannapolis Luis!
READ MORE: https://t.co/bAu1XhXEDk pic.twitter.com/FL8Jyhrl6S
— Kannapolis Intimidators (@Intimidators) June 5, 2018
This move makes all the sense in the world. Yes, Robert was originally assigned to Winston Salem at the start of the season. With the likes of Micker Adolfo, Alex Call, Blake Rutherford, Joel Booker and Luis Alexander Basabe already clogging up the Winston Salem outfield, Kannapolis is a perfect fit for Robert. Coming off a relatively serious thumb injury, there’s no reason to rush him. Think of this as a rehab stint. He will be able to see his first taste of minor league pitching and get his feet wet in professional baseball. This does not mean that Robert won’t tear up Low-A pitching and earn a promotion to Winston Salem rather quickly. That’s exactly what should happen but again, why rush it?
There will be an interesting chain reaction of promotions in the coming weeks. The inevitable promotion of Eloy Jimenez to Charlotte will create a hole in Birmingham’s roster likely to be filled by one of the aforementioned Winston Salem outfielders (Basabe is my guess). Robert’s promotion to High-A will be mixed in there.
The White Sox are currently dealing with an embarrassment of riches in attempting to find all of these young guys enough at-bats. That’s a good problem to have.
