Luis Robert signed with the White Sox in May 2017. He did not make his major league debut until July 2020.
A lot has been involved in this, of course. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed its appearance on the opening day with the White Sox last season for a few months. And before that, if the White Sox was at a different point in its reconstruction process, it might have debuted sometime in 2019. Remember, too, that its development has been delayed by a 2018 season full of injuries.
Despite all this, Robert was not hired to be an instant addition to the major league squad.
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The same goes for the most recent Cuban import from the White Sox, Yoelqui Céspedes, the best ranked player in this year’s international free-agent class, who signed with the South Siders on Friday.
But that does not mean that the 23-year-old outfielder is not close.
“When you’re talking about a player, you never want to set a timetable for his arrival. But from a baseball perspective, he’s very close,” said Marco Paddy, White Sox special assistant to the general manager for international operations, during a conference call on Friday. “He is advanced, he knows how to play the game. Since the age of 19 he has been in the Cuban team with a lot of international experience.
“Combined with his Cuban experience, he is very advanced. It is just a matter of him adjusting and doing the things he needs to move forward. But he is very close to the major leagues.”
Paddy’s explanation brought to mind the last three choices of the White Sox draft: Nick Madrigal, Andrew Vaughn and Garrett Crochet. With each choice, the White Sox selected advanced college players who might not need that much spice in the secondary league and could impact the major league before the alternatives.
Madrigal made his debut in 2020, just about two years after being chosen as the fourth choice in the 2018 draft, and that would have been less than two years had it not been for the pandemic. Vaughn, choice number 3 in the 2019 draft, has not yet debuted, but is already being discussed as a potential day-to-day solution for a designated hitter on a 2021 White Sox team with championship expectations. And the famous Crochet debuted just a few months after being chosen as the No. 11 choice last summer, taking the major league hitters away after not throwing much in 2020.
Therefore, perhaps Céspedes could be seen in a similar way, not being entered into the championships immediately, but also not destined for a long stay in the secondary league. We’ll see.
“I can’t say exactly how close or how far I am from the majors because I never played here. I know that baseball, the quality, is greater than the baseball I used to play in Cuba,” said Céspedes through team interpreter Billy Russo at Friday. “But I think that, with the time in the minors, I will be able to develop and show what I can do, and we will see how long it will take. But I am confident in myself.”
When designing how Céspedes could fit in with the big players in the current White Sox league, many of whom have signed long-term contracts, all eyes must be on the right field. While Paddy described Céspedes as a natural central defender on Friday, Luis Robert’s presence there may create some blockade. The right field, however, may soon become vacant.
The White Sox signed a one-year agentless contract with Adam Eaton this winter with an option for the 2022 season. Who knows if Céspedes would be ready for prime time this time of next year, or even two years from now , but the Eaton contract allows the White Sox to align things properly if things work like that.
Of course, that is all in the future. But Céspedes was MLB.com’s No. 1 player in this international free agent class for a reason. And the White Sox, with their long-term planning still in place, even as they look for a championship chase in 2021, are looking forward to seeing it on the major league field someday.
“Since I was in Cuba, people have told me that I am a player with five tools, although I didn’t have much power when I was playing there,” said Céspedes. “But now that I’m stronger, I think I’m a player with five tools. And that’s what brought me to the White Sox.”
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