It was a move that caught Robert, who had already begun shipping equipment to the White Sox spring training complex in Arizona, by surprise.<\/p>\n
Robert had a dismal first half last season, but began showing life after the All-Star break. The fun was short-lived: By late August he was on the injured list with a left hamstring strain, and he never returned to action for the White Sox.<\/p>\n
He appeared in 110 games and produced a .223\/.297\/.364 slash line with 14 homers and 53 RBIs with 33 stolen bases.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce the offseason started the focus was to strengthen the parts of mostly the injuries I have dealt with up until now,\u201d Robert said. \u201cThat has been the same focus, to try to strengthen everything and make sure I am ready for the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert has gold and silver on his resume. He won a Gold Glove in 2020 and a Silver Slugger in 2023, a season in which he blasted 38 homers and posted an .857 OPS.<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/new-york-mets-luis-robert-121560236.jpg\")
Luis Robert Jr. runs a fielding drill during Spring Training at Clover Field, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. Corey Sipkin for tNY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tools are there \u2014 elite power, the defensive speed,\u201d manager Carlos Mendoza said. \u201cWhen he is healthy, we saw it in 2023, a lot of the things he can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mets won\u2019t push him too hard too fast. Mendoza said the plan is to exclude Robert from early Grapefruit League action, allowing him to build up his legs. Robert will still participate in daily workouts with the team.<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s an approach the team is also taking with Francisco Alvarez and Brett Baty to ensure their health. Alvarez is returning from thumb ligament surgery and Baty reported to camp with hamstring tightness, according to Mendoza.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that\u2019s the type of process that they have,\u201d Robert said. \u201cI trust in them and whatever they have because they want what\u2019s best for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mets have other options for center field, most notably top position player prospect Carson Benge and defensive whiz Tyrone Taylor. Benge could win the starting right field job.<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/new-york-mets-luis-robert-121561179.jpg\")
Luis Robert Jr. (l.) runs with Juan Sotod uring Spring Training at Clover Field, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. Corey Sipkin for the NY Post<\/p>\n
Robert was asked the difference between his old surroundings and his new ones.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just the amount of people that are around,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you come to a team like this the expectations are to win. When you have these goals and expectations there are obviously going to be more eyes on the team. I think that has been the biggest difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
How did he respond to the news that he had been traded?<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I got traded I really can\u2019t explain the emotions that I had,\u201d Robert said. \u201cI was excited, nervous. Sometimes you hear a lot about New York and how big it can be and to play with as many stars as I was going to play with them. I knew I was going to be entering a different stage of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 Luis Robert Jr.\u2019s various lower body injuries over the last two seasons have largely…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[48578,20,9,11,320,10,1558,319,55941],"class_list":{"0":"post-137091","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-luis-robert-jr","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-mets","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-ny-sports-minute","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-spring-training"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}