I've been trying to see Chicago White Sox outfield prospect Luis Robert (No. 54 overall) take an actual game at-bat for more than a year now, dating back to spring training 2018, when he hurt his wrist the day after I arrived in Arizona (while I was watching Shohei Ohtani). That was the first of four separate times I was somewhere he was supposed to be but he didn't play due to injuries. The good news is I finally did get to see him play, on Tuesday night at Wilmington's Frawley Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals' High-A affiliate. The bad news is that he went 0-for-5 as a DH and got the day off Wednesday, so I have yet to see him play the field, get a hit or even reach base.
Robert is a monster of a man -- I did see him take batting practice in the Arizona Fall League and was shocked at how big and broad he is, much more of what we'd consider a football body if he were U.S.-born. At the plate, he has a very simple, quiet approach, something I think has been pretty common among Cuban position players who have defected to the U.S., and he reminds me in a good way of a younger Jorge Soler or a leaner Yasiel Puig, both Cuban defectors who looked similar mechanically.
Robert shows good bat speed, but his pitch recognition took the night off on Tuesday, as he was mistiming pitch types all night, never squaring anything up. But I don't think his swing will be an issue, other than possibly its length, since he's so balanced throughout and has no extraneous movement or anything that would prevent him from getting the bat head into the zone on time. I'd like to see him run at full tilt and maybe put a ball in play other than a pop-up, though.
• The Blue Rocks started lefty Daniel Lynch, the Royals' No. 1 prospect and No. 53 overall, in the Wednesday matinee. I don't think Lynch is long for High-A given his stuff, although he had some trouble with his release point in the outing and didn't have the same command he had last year. Lynch was throwing at mostly 92-95 mph, down to 90 with the four-seamer, and showed a four-pitch mix with a changeup that showed plus at 79-84 mph, a hard slider up to 86 that showed above-average and a curveball he didn't break out until his second time through the order but that looked average. His delivery is really good -- simple, compact and on line to the plate -- but after he tried to field a comebacker in the second, he seemed to lose his release point and started missing spots by substantially more, eventually exiting the game in the fourth. The stuff is going to play and he has shown plenty of command and control in the past.
• The Blue Rocks are better across the board this year, including their relief corps. Lefty Robert Garcia was 92-94 with some late life and threw a cutter or hard slider at 85-87, with very good deception from a high arm slot. Tyler Zuber, generously listed at 5-foot-11, returns after spending the end of last year with the Blue Rocks and showed a two-seamer at 93-95 and a hard slurve at 81-84 that was above average when he executed it, but was inconsistent.
• On the position-player side, Kyle (not Jason) Isbel played in both games and didn't look good in either of them, getting eaten alive by fastballs up, showing a preference for a low, looping bat path that got him under a lot of pitches. He's an above-average runner and has some bat speed, but this wasn't a good look at him as a hitter.
• MJ Melendez, the Royals' second-round pick two years ago, was the DH on Tuesday and caught on Wednesday, showing a lot of three true outcomes -- well, two of them at least -- across the two games. He punched out three times, all on fastballs, while walking twice and showing some good ball-strike recognition. It's a little concerning to see him miss fastballs in the zone, although he's young for high-A. His one hit in the two games was a loud double to the center-field warning track that appeared to be hit off the end of his bat. He was up to his usual tricks behind the plate, backpicking guys at first, but he had some trouble catching Lynch.
• Seuly Matias played on Tuesday and struck out twice in four plate appearances, with a sac fly mixed in. It's easy power, but he's not disciplined at all and his back side collapses even when he doesn't seem to be swinging at full effort.
• Nick Pratto, their first-rounder in the same draft that netted them Melendez, ran a lot of deep counts over the two games -- 30 pitches in seven plate appearances, not counting the one-pitch at-bat where he walked it off with a game-winning single on Tuesday. The patience is great, but his two-strike approach needs some refining as he seemed to swing just as hard in those counts, without actually getting results.
• Brewer Hicklen, on the other hand, seems to have more of a plan at the plate, rather than mere patience, and he did show a two-strike approach, seeming to wait a little longer and take advantage of his quick hands to foul off a tough pitch on a 1-2 count, eventually working a walk. I didn't see hard contact in the two games from Hicklen, but he's at least an above-average runner.