Robert's four hits give Barons paws

No. 18 prospect delivers bases-loaded walk-off double in ninth

After 23 games, Luis Robert is batting .303 in his first taste of the Southern League. (Danny Parker)

By Jordan Wolf

May 28, 2019

A black cat may be a harbinger of bad luck, but thankfully for Luis Robert, it was an orange feline that crossed the Double-A Barons' basepaths Tuesday.MLB.com's No. 18 overall prospect went 4-for-5 with a walk-off, bases-loaded double in the ninth inning as Birmingham rallied past Montgomery, 5-4, at Regions

A black cat may be a harbinger of bad luck, but thankfully for Luis Robert, it was an orange feline that crossed the Double-A Barons' basepaths Tuesday.
MLB.com's No. 18 overall prospect went 4-for-5 with a walk-off, bases-loaded double in the ninth inning as Birmingham rallied past Montgomery, 5-4, at Regions Field.

In that frame, Trey Michalczewski, Ti'Quan Forbes and Mitch Roman recorded first-pitch singles off Curtis Taylor to load the bases and bring up Robert, who stepped in with one out. The 21-year-old worked a full count off the right-hander before driving the sixth offering down the left-field line. Michalczewski and Forbes raced around with ease, and following a strong throw by left fielder Miles Mastrobuoni, Roman narrowly avoided the tag to score the winning run as his teammates spilled out of the dugout.
Gameday box score
That came after a cat caused a delay in the fourth, when an orange tabby found its way onto the infield and scurried around the diamond before jumping into the crowd. The game was delayed for about a minute.

Robert also beat out an infield single to third in the first, flied a single to center in the third and logged another two-bagger to center in the fifth. While he hasn't been with the Barons long, the 21-year-old's hitting coach Charlie Poe thinks performances like these seem to be par for the course for a player of his stature.

"An awesome player," Poe said. "Makes his teammates better around him when he's really going good and laying off pitches that aren't strikes. And like you saw tonight, on pitches in the zone, he put the ball in play hard, had four hits and that was why we ended up winning in a walk-off."
Through 23 games with Birmingham, the second-ranked White Sox prospect sports a slash line of .303/.361/.528 with 12 RBIs. He was promoted on April 30 after hitting .453/.512/.920 over 19 games with Class A Advanced Winston-Salem.
In 2018, Robert batted .269/.333/.360 between Winston-Salem, Class A Kannapolis and the Rookie-level Arizona League.

Jordan Wolf is a contributor to MiLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @byjordanwolf.