BOSTON — In the confounding mess that was the 2023 season — and the past tense is called for with six games left because it has been over for a long, long time — the White Sox always will have the breakout of Luis Robert Jr.
At 26, three seasons after finishing second in American League Rookie of the Year voting and winning a Gold Glove, Robert became an All-Star and an even better center fielder who put up numbers worthy of MVP consideration.
But Robert’s goal of playing in 150 games, which was in reach — he appeared in his 145th game Sunday but only for one inning — now might be in jeopardy after he left the Sox’ rain-shortened 3-2 victory against the Red Sox with a sore right knee, the result of an awkward slide into second base on his 20th stolen base in the first inning.
‘‘He’s doing all right,’’ manager Pedro Grifol said after the Sox won a series for the first time since Aug. 7-9 against the Yankees. ‘‘We’ll see how he wakes up [Monday].’’
Robert played center in the bottom of the first and made a running catch before having his knee looked at in the dugout. He will be evaluated Monday in Chicago before the Sox open a six-game homestand against the Diamondbacks and Padres to finish their season. Robert needs to play five games to reach his goal of 150.
Finishing without Robert would be just the latest buzzkill in a season fraught with disappointment for the Sox, who take a 60-96 record into the final week. Robert is a candidate to be the first Sox player to win the Silver Slugger and Gold Glove awards in the same season.
He has a .279/.327/.500 hitting line and an .827 OPS. His 38th home run Saturday traveled only 311 feet but landed near the right-field pole in the ninth inning of a 1-0 victory at Fenway Park.
With the stolen base Sunday, Robert joined Magglio Ordonez in 2001 as the only Sox players with 35-plus doubles, 30-plus homers and 20-plus steals in a season. Robert and Dodgers star Mookie Betts are the only players this season with 35 or more homers and doubles.
His 36 doubles, 80 RBI, 90 runs scored and 20 stolen bases say it all.
‘‘There’s not a box he doesn’t check on that field,’’ Grifol said. ‘‘He’s still young and getting better and learning and improving, and he’s hungry to learn. The sky’s the limit.’’
Robert is the only player in the majors this season and the only one in Sox history with 35 or more homers, 35 or more doubles, 75 or more RBI, 85 or more runs scored and 15 or more stolen bases.
But his biggest goal, he said, was to stay healthy. He played in 56 of the 60 games as a rookie during the COVID-abbreviated 2020 season, but injuries limited him to 68 games in 2021 and to 98 in 2022. He put ‘‘150’’ in writing during spring training.
‘‘That has been my goal all year,’’ Robert said through a translator Saturday. ‘‘That’s what means the most to me.’’
No matter what his final number of games played turns out to be, Robert’s strides bode well for his future.
‘‘He’s becoming a superstar, but there is a whole lot more in the tank,’’ first-base and outfielders coach Daryl Boston said.
As a rookie, Robert was apprehensive and struggled on balls going to the wall.
‘‘He’s much better now, his feel for the game,’’ Boston said. ‘‘Now he’s fearless. He always wanted to play a little deeper because he was afraid to take his eye off the ball.’’
The next step is on the bases, where better jumps will make 30-plus stolen bases another reasonable goal.
‘‘He wants to steal bases more, but he’d rather get thrown out at second than get picked off at first,’’ Boston said. ‘‘He’s hesitant with his jumps. We have to get him over that.’’
