Chuckie Robinson Archives - All Mississippi Baseball

30 Aug

a homer to savor

Hear about the special home run hit Monday night at Great American Ballpark? No, not the Albert Pujols bomb. The St. Louis star’s 694th career homer off a record 450th different pitcher was certainly noteworthy. But Chuckie Robinson’s homer was the special one. It was the first for the former Southern Miss star in his fourth MLB game with Cincinnati. It came with his mother, Dionne, and younger brother in the park. “I think when I hit it, I kind of blacked out a little bit like, ‘Dang, I got it.’ I was super excited,” Robinson told mlb.com. You can bet that his grandfather and father were also super excited. Robinson is a third-generation pro player. Both his grandfather — “Big Chuck” — and father — “Little Chuck” — played in the minors. They were in Philadelphia last week when “Baby Chuck” made his debut and got his first knock. “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this day,” he said at the time. Robinson, a catcher drafted out of USM in 2016 by Houston, is 27 years old and put in six years in the minors before the Reds gave him this shot in the big leagues. Cincy manager David Bell has raved about him: “He’s absolutely earned the opportunity.” As fate would have it, someone from Robinson’s hometown of Danville, Ill., caught the home run ball and got it to his mother. Now that’s special. P.S. Mississippi State alumnus Nathaniel Lowe was named the American League’s player of the week on Monday. He batted .385 with four homers and 11 RBIs for Texas last week. For the year, Lowe is batting .300 with a career-high 22 homers and 65 RBIs.

12 Sep

midas touch

Chuckie Robinson added to his bling collection on Tuesday, scoring the winning run in the Carolina League championship game for Buies Creek. If you’re keeping score, that’s three titles in three years for the former Southern Miss standout. USM won a Conference USA crown with Robinson behind the plate in 2016, and he picked up a championship ring last year with Quad Cities, Houston’s low Class A club in the Midwest League. Robinson was the MVP in the MWL Championship Series, capping a year in which he batted .274 with 15 homers and 77 RBIs. At high-A Buies Creek this season, he didn’t have the big numbers — .238, seven homers, 30 RBIs – but he came up large in the one-game title showdown against Potomac. With the score tied 1-1, Robinson led off the bottom of the 11th inning with a single and later scored from second base on another single. The former 21st-round pick, an outstanding defensive catcher, slipped off the Astros’ Top 30 prospect chart at midseason this year but is no doubt still on the club’s radar.

16 Mar

going strong

There are hurdles ahead for Chuckie Robinson, but the former Southern Miss star certainly has built a head of steam. After one full season in pro ball, the 23-year-old Robinson is the second-highest rated catcher in Houston’s system and the No. 27 prospect overall in the world champion’s organization. He has made a couple of appearances in big league spring training games and has earned a great reputation. “He’s one of our most-liked players by staff just because he’s such a hard worker,” Astros director of player development Pete Putila told milb.com in a recent feature on Robinson. “Physically, he’s an explosive player. It shows up in his arm strength and bat speed.” Robinson threw out 40.9 percent of baserunners attempting to steal last season at Class A Quad Cities while also batting .274 and mashing 15 homers with 77 RBIs. He was a driving force behind the River Bandits’ run to the Midwest League pennant, belting four postseason bombs, and was named an MWL All-Star. Robinson, an Illinois native, was a 21st-round selection by the Astros in 2016 and, though he had a big junior year at USM, didn’t enter pro ball with a lot of hype. “I know good ballplayers. I think I’m a good ballplayer. I know what I’m capable of and, honestly, I just wanted to get an opportunity,” Robinson said in the milb.com article. He is making the most of it.

18 Sep

exclamation point

Chuckie Robinson, the former Southern Miss star, capped an ascendant season with a brilliant performance in the Midwest League Championship Series clincher. Robinson went 4-for-5 with a homer, three RBIs and four runs as Quad Cities, a Houston affiliate, beat Fort Wayne 12-2 on Saturday to claim the Class A league’s pennant. “Talk about your storybook ending,” Quad Cities manager Russ Steinhorn told the Quad-City Times. Robinson, a second-year pro, was the only player from the River Bandits’ opening day roster still with the team for the playoffs. Robinson, named the series MVP, also homered in Game 1 of the best-of-5, which the River Bandits swept. “Since the playoffs started, all season really, we’ve shown a resilience. We never quit,’’ Robinson told the QCT. Robinson, a catcher, batted .274 with 15 homers and 77 RBIs during the season. He earned MWL midseason and postseason All-Star honors. And he’ll probably get an invite to the Astros’ big league camp next spring.