He moves with the almost effortless grace of a certain Hall of Famer, combined with the flair of an iconic movie character.

Then again, Luis Robert has been turning heads since he started playing in the Cuban National Series at the age of 15.

“You very rarely see that kind of talent,” says former All-Star shortstop Omar Vizquel, who played 24 years in the majors and was the center fielder’s manager this season with the Class AA Birmingham Barons.

“I remember seeing Ken Griffey Jr. in the beginning – we broke into the big leagues together in the same year – and Ken had that same kind of glow. He can do it all. He can beat you with a home run, with a stolen base, turn it into a different gear to make a play in the field. When you look at Robert, you see a player like that.”

That breathtaking combination of power and speed has carried the Chicago White Sox prospect to only the fourth 30-homer, 30-steal season in the minors this decade.

For his superior performance across three different organizational levels, Luis Robert is the 2019 USA TODAY Minor League Player of the Year. The award is based on voting from our panel of writers and editors as well as an online poll of readers.

Robert, 22, joins an impressive run of honorees over the previous six years – all of them now household names in the majors.

Past winners:

Robert put up some incredible numbers this season from Advanced Class A Winston-Salem (N.C.) to Class AAA Charlotte, hitting a combined .328 with a .376 on-base percentage, 32 home runs, 92 RBI and a minor-league leading 36 stolen bases.

He also tops the minors in hits (165) and total bases (314), and is second in runs scored (108).

At first glance, it’s hard not to notice the physical skills on his chiseled 6-3, 185-pound frame.

“A Ferrari body with a super-charged engine,” says one AL scout.

“When he hits the ball, the ball tends to go very far,” says Charlotte manager Mark Grudzielanek, a veteran of 15 major league seasons. “It’s a unique ability, the kind of power he possesses with his body and his hips and how he torques. He hit some balls here that went pretty damn far that you don’t see on an everyday basis.”

Cuban connection

The White Sox had a pretty good idea of the raw physical talent they were getting when they signed Robert for $26 million in 2017. It didn’t hurt that they had already had success three years earlier with another Cuban, first baseman Jose Abreu, whom they signed for six years and $68 million before the 2014 season.

When Robert first came to the White Sox that spring as a 19-year-old, Abreu and fellow countryman Yoan Moncada paid special attention to him and gave Robert his nickname La Pantera – "the panther."

“It was a beautiful experience being around those guys,” Robert says through Knights coach and translator Anthony Santiago. “You have a veteran guy in Abreu and a younger guy (Moncada) sharing their experiences with me about what they’ve gone through. It became a learning experience constantly trying to talk to those guys and get advice from them.”

For someone who had been so successful in Cuba, the transition wasn’t easy. Knee, ankle and thumb injuries got his pro career off to a slow start. Then he re-injured his thumb in a spring training game in 2018 and it bothered him the entire season. He batted just .269 and didn’t hit a homer in 50 games.

“My whole life I never had to deal with any injuries so last year took a toll,” Robert says. “I think what helped me get back to feeling better was the opportunity to get to play in the (Arizona) Fall League, being able to be healthy and have a good Fall League.”

Playing against other highly-rated prospects, Robert more than held his own. He hit .324 with two home runs and five stolen bases in 18 games, and was selected to participate in the annual Fall Stars game.

Brimming with confidence once again, Robert’s success has carried over into a stellar 2019 campaign.

“What really impressed me this year is how quick he learned everything we were trying to say to him,” Vizquel says.

“You could tell the difference … I wouldn’t say (he was) scared, but he was like a little bit in his own little world before. And now, he has the confidence that he belongs in the big leagues.”

Breakthrough 2019

It didn’t take long this spring to see Robert was ready to be challenged. He hit .453 with a 1.432 OPS in 19 games at Winston-Salem before being promoted to Class AA Birmingham.

There, Vizquel installed him as the team’s leadoff hitter so he could see as many plate appearances as possible. He also gave him no restrictions on the bases.

“When you are in this development period, you have to let him run all the time,” Vizquel says. “I give him the advantage to be on his own, have a green light and let him have a feel for the pitcher to see when he can run or not. Then if he made a mistake, we go talk to him about it. But you have to give him that freedom.”

In 56 games at Birmingham, he stole 21 bases in 27 attempts.

His speed is also a major asset defensively when he’s patrolling center field … which leads to that movie character comparison. It’s one that dates back more than two decades before Robert was even born. Yet even today, baseball watchers occasionally reference Kelly Leak, the star player on the rag-tag team of little leaguers in The Bad News Bears, who famously flagged down every ball possible, even at the expense of his teammates.

“Sometimes fly balls, routine ones to right field or left field that guys are under, he’s coming out of nowhere calling the ball,” Vizquel recalls. “He wants to field every ball that he can get to.”

It’s not ideal, from a coaching standpoint. But there’s a greater goal.

“When your personality starts coming out, your game starts getting better, you get more confidence in your surroundings. When you have that, you have confidence you can be a major league player,” Vizquel says.

One of the things his coaches have loved the most is Robert’s ability to put instruction into practice. That hasn’t always been easy due to the language barrier, but Robert has worked hard on that as well. Vizquel says he never missed an English class the White Sox offered for their Spanish-speaking players.

Fully recovered from his thumb injury, Robert changed his approach at the plate and started hitting the ball to all fields.

And then there’s the power.

“One thing that really impressed me this year was a home run that he hit over the scoreboard in Birmingham that traveled around 480 feet,” Vizquel recalls. “I haven’t seen anybody hit a ball like that this year here.”

When asked about that particular homer, Robert’s eyes light up and he breaks into a huge smile.

“I just tried to make good contact and I did make good contact. Honestly, I didn’t think it would go that far,” he says. But I’m glad it did. And it got over the scoreboard."

Promoted to Charlotte in mid-July he made an instant impression, going 3-for-5 with two home runs (one of them a grand slam) and seven RBI in his first game with the Knights.

“He’s an aggressive hitter, there’s no question about that. He doesn’t mess around up there,” Grudzielanek says. “I don’t want to take that aggressiveness away from him but yet you want him hitting pitches he can drive and doesn’t get himself in trouble with. Once he learns the zone a little more and stays off pitches, I think you’ll see batting average and all the offensive numbers go higher.”

With the livelier baseball at Class AAA, Robert started hitting more home runs. Suddenly, the elusive 30-homer, 30-steal season became possible.

“Yes, it was definitely important,” he says. “When I was in Birmingham I didn’t figure I would be able to get there, but once I got called up to Charlotte I figured I’d have a better chance. By the time I got here I had 29 stolen bases so I got that first. I had about 19 home runs, but thankfully I got the opportunity to get the 30-30.”

MLB material

Before Robert and Houston Astros prospect Kyle Tucker joined the 30-30 club this season, only Joc Pederson (33 HR, 30 SB in 2014) and George Springer (37 HR, 45 SB in 2013) had done it over the past decade.

“Real impact tools on both sides of the ball,” says one NL scout. “He will be fun to watch once he reaches the big leagues.” But with the White Sox out of playoff contention, he's not going to get a call-up.

“I feel I’m ready but if the team decides to leave me here another year (in the minors), I’m okay with that,” Robert says. “That obviously means that they believe there’s more for me to learn so I’m going to keep trying to learn and get better.”

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t think about what it will be like in the bigs.

“One of my favorite players I would like to get a chance to play against is Acuña,” he says. “He’s an exciting player and somebody I can look up to.”

Not coincidentally, Acuña is the only player in the majors this year who’s put up a 30-30 season.

“I saw Acuña come through here with the Braves. The style of play he has – aggressive, all-out offensively and defensively, has great pop – (Robert is) one of ‘em that can throw, hit, run and do it all,” says Grudzielanek, who acknowledges the similarities to his young prodigy.

“Those two things, the ability to run the bases and his pop at the plate … he’s made some catches defensively too over the walls … He’s going to be a fun player to watch and follow for the next 10, 15 years.”

Contributing: Bob Nightengale. Gardner reported from Norfolk, Va.