Charles Robinson III (born December 14, 1994) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

in the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

organization. He has previously played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

Amateur career

Robinson grew up in Danville, Illinois and attended Danville High School. Robinson played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the Southern Miss Golden Eagles for three seasons. He was the team's backup catcher during his first two seasons with the team. After his sophomore season, he played collegiate summer baseball with the

Ocean State Waves The Ocean State Waves are a collegiate summer baseball team based in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, United States. The team, a member of the New England Collegiate Baseball League The New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) is a 13-team ...

of the

New England Collegiate Baseball League The New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) is a 13-team collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league founded in 1993 and sanctioned by the NCAA and Major League Baseball. Each NECBL team plays an eight-week, 44-game schedule during June ...

. As a junior, Robinson batted .288 with seven

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 44

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

(RBIs) and was named first team All-

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

Professional career

Houston Astros

The

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

selected Robinson in the 21st round of the

2016 Major League Baseball draft The 2016 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 9, 2016, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2015 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks will be d ...

. After signing with the team, he was assigned to the Tri-City ValleyCats of the New York–Penn League. Robinson spent the 2017 season with the Single–A

Quad Cities River Bandits The Quad Cities River Bandits are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. Their home games are played at Modern Woodmen Park (formerly John O'Donnell Stadium) in Davenport, Iowa, one ...

. He played for the

Buies Creek Astros The Fayetteville Woodpeckers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. They are located in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and play their home games at Segra Stadium. From 2017 to 201 ...

of the High–A

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...

and batted .239 with seven home runs and 30 RBIs. Robinson spent the 2019 season with the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks and hit .217 with seven home runs and 36 RBIs in 103 games played. After the season, he played winter league baseball for the Canberra Cavalry of the Australian Baseball League. Robinson did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Cincinnati Reds

On December 10, 2020, the

selected Robinson in the minor league phase of the 2020 Rule 5 draft. He spent the 2021 season with the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts and batted .248 with eight home runs and 24 RBI in 66 games played. Robinson was assigned to Chattanooga at the beginning of the 2022 season before being promoted to the Triple-A

Louisville Bats The Louisville Bats are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Louisville, Kentucky, and are named in dual reference to the bat, win ...

. Robinson was promoted to the Reds' major league roster on August 11, 2022. He made his Major League debut on August 24, starting at catcher and going 1–2 with one run scored in a 7–5 loss to the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

. Robinson's debut was the first time that an African-American player had started at catcher since

Bruce Maxwell Bruce Tyrone Maxwell III (born December 20, 1990) is a German–born American professional baseball catcher for the Acereros de Monclova of the Mexican League. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics. Maxwell is th ...

had in 2018. On August 29, Robinson hit his first career home run, a two–run shot off of St. Louis Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas. On October 15, Robinson was removed from the

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, and ...

and sent outright to Triple–A Louisville. He elected free agency following the season on November 10. On December 5, 2022, Robinson re–signed with the Reds on a minor league contract that included an invitation to

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

. He spent the 2023 season with Triple–A Louisville, playing in 101 games and batting .290/.356/.450 with 13 home runs, 74 RBI, and 7 stolen bases. Robinson elected free agency following the season on November 6, 2023.

Chicago White Sox

On December 7, 2023, Robinson signed a minor league contract with the

Personal life

Robinson's father, Charles Robinson Jr., played catcher in the minor leagues in the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

and

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

organizations. His grandfather, Charles Robinson Sr., was also a minor league catcher in the

organization.

References

External links

Southern Miss Golden Eagles bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Chuckie 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Danville, Illinois Baseball players from Illinois African-American baseball players Major League Baseball catchers Cincinnati Reds players Southern Miss Golden Eagles baseball players Tri-City ValleyCats players Quad Cities River Bandits players Buies Creek Astros players Corpus Christi Hooks players Chattanooga Lookouts players Louisville Bats players Canberra Cavalry players Gigantes del Cibao players American expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic American expatriate baseball players in Australia