White Sox’ Luis Robert Jr., one of baseball’s best so far in 2023, gets a day off

PITTSBURGH — Luis Robert Jr., whose 0.9 wins above replacement through nine games ranked him among the top four players in the majors, was given his first rest Sunday.

“If you focus on Luis and his day, you realize these days are needed,” manager Pedro Grifol said before the Sox played the Pirates in the rubber game of their series. “He prepares for a game probably better than anybody I’ve ever seen. He’s talented but his preparation pregame is second to none.”

Grifol also noted the amount of running Robert has done on the bases and in the outfield. He has made several running catches, at least two of the spectacular variety.

The Sox desperately want to keep Robert healthy. He was limited to 98 games last season and 68 in 2021.

“His work capacity is really high,” Grifol said. “He’s ready for this. We’re nine games into the season and everybody’s going to feel good at this point. We’re preparing for 162 so at some point he’s going to need one of these and today was a good day.”

Players generally find out the night before if they’re not playing, enhancing the mental rest element of the day off, allowing them to arrive on the second team bus from the hotel. Teams almost always don’t take batting practice before day games after a night game.

Oscar Colas played center field with Romy Gonzalez in right. Robert was available off the bench.

Alberto pitching in

Hanser Alberto, who pitched 11 times for the Dodgers last season and twice already for the Sox, knows it’s not fun to be on the other side of it batting against a position player.

“It’s tough,” he said. “Because it’s too slow. It gets your timing off.”

What’s more, “You want to get a hit because they all count at the end of the year. Maybe that out costs you hitting .300. And you don’t want to be embarrassed.”

Alberto doesn’t like pitching knowing it means the team is getting routed, but he’s happy to help save the bullpen.

“I just throw it up there,” he said. “I don’t want to hurt anybody.”

Alberto takes it in stride and with humor, joking the Giants had an advantage seeing him twice in one series and rubbing his right arm, saying he’s ready to go.

His pitching highlight? He struck out Josh Bell looking last season.

Grandal’s throwing

Stolen bases are up over the league, casting a light on catcher Yasmani Grandal’s throwing, but even more on Sox pitchers needing to be better holding runners, Grifol said.

Grandal, who was off with Seby Zavala catching Sunday, has made most of his throws to second from his knees. He has thrown out two of 11.

“He throws good off his knees,” said Grifol, who was a catcher in the minor leagues. “I know his throwing out percentage is not good but we need to do a better job with our times to the plate. It’s not so much throwing out guys, it’s eliminating attempts. If we throw them out, great. I want to get to a point where they’re not even attempting to run on us.

The Pirates stole three bases on Mike Clevinger Saturday.

“We’ve spoken to Clevinger about it,” Grifol said. “It’s not something we’re brushing under the rug. We’re addressing it and working on it.”

Grandal’s strengths through his career are his offense and framing but “he’s doing a really good job behind the plate blocking and throwing,” Grifol said. “We have to be quicker to the plate.”

Sox get something for Ruiz

After designating right-hander Jose Ruiz for assignment Friday, the White Sox were able to work out a trade with the Diamondbacks for cash considerations.