White Sox center fielder Luis Robert cleared to ramp up baseball activities

Center fielder Luis Robert has been cleared medically to increase his level of baseball activities at the White Sox’ training complex in Glendale, Arizona, the team announced Tuesday.

And with one encouraging update on the injured budding superstar’s status, it felt like the Sox waved a magic wand over Guaranteed Rate Field as they prepared to play the Twins.

It felt like bothersome levels of humidity dropped, first place in the American League Central felt a bit more secure and it looked like better days were ahead for a team struggling to score without Robert and slugger Eloy Jimenez, who also is bouncing back from a serious injury but has been doing baseball activities for two weeks now.

The Sox are not giving timetables for the talented pair’s returns — it’s too soon for that — but having them both for a good chunk of August and all of September and thereafter is a very strong possibility. It will do wonders for a lineup trying to find ways to score, coupled with subpar June production from Jose Abreu and Tim Anderson. And with Robert, the AL Gold Glove winner in 2020, an outfield pieced together with minor-league call-ups, minor-league free agents and converted infielders will receive an immediate makeover.

“We’re very optimistic that both will contribute this year,” general manager Rick Hahn has been saying.

Knowing both are healed to the full extent of running, swinging and throwing makes it more than just talk.

Robert, 23, has been on the injured list with a Grade 3 strain of his right hip flexor since May 4.

This phase of his rehabilitation process is expected to take approximately four weeks, the team said, after which Robert could be cleared for a rehabilitation assignment with a minor-league affiliate.

The runner-up in AL Rookie of the Year balloting in 2020, Robert was batting .316/.359/.463 in 25 games.

The news comes 15 days after Jimenez was cleared to resume baseball activities in Glendale. Jimenez, who had surgery after he suffered a ruptured left pectoral muscle during spring training, has completed about two weeks of a four-week rehab process. The next phase for Jimenez will be a rehab assignment with a minor-league team.

With right-hander Michael Kopech recovered from his hamstring strain and nearing a return, just the thought of having three big components of a championship-caliber roster contributing applied a salve to the 12-11 June record the Sox took into Tuesday’s game. They had lost seven of their last nine.

Now if the Sox can make a deal to add punch at second base, avoid more injuries — Yoan Moncada didn’t play because of a sore right shoulder — and get Jose Abreu (.181/.236/.277 in June) clicking again, they should be fine between now and the returns of Jimenez and Robert.

Abreu was in the lineup at first base, something few would have expected after he took a pitch off his left knee and had to be helped off the field Sunday.

Left-handed hitting prospect Gavin Sheets, who was called up after impressing at Triple-A Charlotte, started in right field and singled in his first major-league at-bat.

“This is what you dream about, what you play for,” Sheets, the son of former big-leaguer Larry Sheets, said before the game. “You play to have fun, but you play to win games, to win a World Series. To be part of that, in the middle of it. June and July are important months.

“To be in the big leagues is tremendous, a dream come true, but to play for a first-place team is what it’s all about.”

Despite the rash of injuries that also includes second baseman Nick Madrigal (out for the season), the Sox still are dreaming. Seeing Jimenez and Robert on the horizon keeps it believable.