Luis Robert Jr. Discusses Injury, Future With Chicago White Sox

CHICAGO –– Luis Robert Jr. was putting together a strong second half, which made Wednesday's news all the more frustrating for the White Sox center fielder.

Placed on the injured list with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain, the rest of Robert's 2025 season is in jeopardy.

"What comes with that is several weeks," general manager Chris Getz said Wednesday. "We don’t know precisely. At this point of the year, time is not necessarily a friend with players returning. So there is a chance that perhaps he doesn’t make it back by the end of the year."

Robert suffered the injury running to first base in the second inning of Tuesday's 5-4 loss to the Kansas City Royals.

"Every time something like that happens I always question why," Robert said Friday through an interpreter. "Those are things I cannot control."

He remained in center field in the third inning but was replaced in the fourth. Adding to the disappointment, the diagnosis was worse than he anticipated.

"At first, yes, I knew that it was a little worse than before but I wasn’t expecting it to be like this bad," Robert said. "I thought maybe 10 days, something like that. But definitely not something like this."

Does he expect to play again this season?

"That is my mindset," Robert said. "But we’ll see if we have enough time."

Robert's batting average fell below .200 in each month April through June, and he went into the All-Star break with a career-low .599 OPS. The White Sox didn't receive an offer they felt worthy of dealing Robert at MLB's trade deadline, so they kept for at least the remainder of the 2025 season.

Following that point, Robert's play reflected well on Getz's decision. Since July 18, Robert has slashed .298/.352/.456 with five home runs, 18 RBIs, and 11 stolen bases, good for 1.0 wins above replacement, per FanGraphs.

"It’s no secret my first half was a bad one, but in the second half, everything was going my way," Robert said. "I was feeling good. I was feeling good in the outfield. I was feeling good at the plate. My body was feeling good. I was just focused on staying healthy and play as many games as I could because that’s what you want as a baseball player. But unfortunately this happened and there’s nothing I can do."

White Sox manager Will Venable mentioned Robert reducing his leg kick at the plate contributed to his resurgence in the second half. Robert agreed that a more basic approach led to better results.

"I think the key was just trying to simplify my mechanics to eliminate any extra movement that I was doing," Robert said. "And then that helped me to put the barrel on the ball in a more consistent way, be better recognizing pitches in the strike zone. It was just that, trying to simplify and eliminate any extra move I was doing in my mechanics."

Getz said the White Sox are committed to Luis when asked about picking up his $20 million club option for the 2026 and 2027 seasons, as opposed to a $2 million buyout. Robert was glad to hear that.

"I will be happy to stay here as long as they want me here," Robert said. "But I also know that this is something that things can change. But yeah, definitely I would like to stay here. I want to be part of this team going forward into the future. It’s good. I definitely would like to stay here. It’s also good to hear that they are thinking of me for next year and to be a part of this team."