Gavin Sheets and Jake Burger grabbed the headlines with some strong performances last week — and rightfully so — but all of Charlotte’s top prospects impressed as the Knights took five of six at home against the Norfolk Tides.
Sheets was most impressive, pounding two home runs and 10 hits in 23 at-bats. But Burger, Blake Rutherford, Seby Zavala, Luis Gonzalez, Jonathan Stiever and Jimmy Lambert also excelled.
This week’s six-game match-up against the Durham Bulls, the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays and one of the stronger teams in the league, will likely be a truer test for Charlotte’s young players, who dominated a weak Norfolk Tides pitching staff but struggled one week earlier against Gwinnett’s MLB veteran-laded team.
Prospect Watch
Sheets was locked in, to say the least. For the season, Sheets is hitting .367, with three home runs, 13 RBIs and 11 strikeouts in 49 at-bats. Sheets looks comfortable at the plate and confident.
“He sees what Triple-A is doing to him, he’ll make the adjustments on how they are attacking him, especially lefty on lefty,” manager Wes Helms said of his star slugger. “He is going to be a big RBI guy.”
Burger is hitting just .216 on the season, but is squaring the ball hard, with three home runs and nine RBIs in 37 at-bats, and just eight strikeouts. He looks better and better with each game, and Helms and hitting coach Chris Johnson rave about his grit, work ethic and focus.
“He works extremely hard on his approach and his swing and he is so mentally tough,” Johnson said. “That’s why he is able to have some success, and when he gets a pitch to hit, he’s a strong kid so he can really do some damage.”
Rutherford had a terrific week against Norfolk, with seven hits in 16 at-bats, three runs scored, four RBIs, a triple and a double. He is hitting .297 for the season and has had several nice opposite-field line drives.
Zavala continues to thrive in his third season in Charlotte. In 40 at-bats this year, he’s hitting .300, with four homers and is second on the club with 10 RBIs. The biggest blemish on his stat sheet is 19 strikeouts.
Gonzalez came off the IL on Sunday in a big way, with a home run, walk, two runs scored and two RBIs.
In Minor League Baseball’s Covid-adjusted schedule, teams play an opponent for six consecutive games, which means that one pitcher in a five-man rotation gets two starts. It was Stiever pulling double-duty against the Tides — with excellent results. Most importantly, in his second start, Stiever fanned nine Tides’ hitters and threw 92 pitches as he continues to quickly build arm strength. He did not give up a home run in either start last week.
Lambert also continues to build arm strength, but at a much slower pace as the team takes an especially cautious approach. In his third start of the season, Lambert totaled 55 pitches with good velocity and five strikeouts.
Season In Review: Hitting
With the arrival of Gonzalez and Nick Williams and the addition of Brian Goodwin, Helms has a lot of weapons at his disposal. Through the first 12 games of the season, the team ranks fifth in the league in hitting (.268), fourth in home runs (18) and sixth in slugging (.471). But the team also has the third highest number of strikeouts, with 127.
The team’s top hitter for the first two weeks of the season is Marco Hernandez, one of the veterans signed by the White Sox as an emergency back-up. The middle infielder has hit a sizzling .432 on the season (19-44) and was named Triple-A East Player of the Week after hitting .478 with eight runs scored, four doubles, two home runs and seven RBIs in the six-game series against the Tides. He had three multi-hit games during the week and recorded a four-hit game on May 15.
Season In Review — Pitching
Charlotte’s pitching staff ranks toward the bottom of the league in most categories, the result in part of a brutal opening series against the Gwinnett Stripers. But the Knights have a lot of power arms, and that’s reflected in the fact that the staff has the third highest number of strikeouts, with 128 in 112 innings.
With starters on low pitch counts to start the season, the bullpen has been worked hard. And most of the Knights relievers are still honing their control such that their stats should be a better indicator of their skill levels a few weeks down the road.
Among starters, the other bright spots in addition to Stiever and Lambert are veterans Mike Wright and Reynaldo Lopez.
In two starts, Wright has tossed 10 innings, giving up 10 hits and four walks but has struck out 15 and given up just one home run. Lopez came off the IL last week to make his first start for the Knights, with four hits, three walks, eight strikeouts and one home run in five innings.
It is harder to identify a standout reliever just yet given the number of uneven efforts.
A Look Ahead
The Knights travel to Durham to face the Bulls for six games this week. The Rays have perennially one of the best Triple-A teams and this year appears to be no different. Through 12 games, the Bulls are first in the 20-team Triple-A East in home runs (26) and second in hitting (.282). The pitching staff is strong as well, with a 3.96 ERA and 1.18 WHIP.
The Bulls feature two of the best prospects in baseball — Wander Franco and Vidal Brujan. Five other top 20 Rays prospects are on the Bulls: Brendan McKay (8), Joe Ryan (13), Taylor Walls (15), Josh Lowe (16) and Brent Honeywell (17).
Covid
Two weeks into the season, the Knights are much more comfortable with MLB’s strict Covid guidelines, which were a big adjustment initially. Equally important, the players received their second vaccine two weeks ago so they are now fully vaccinated.
It will be interesting to see if MLB adjusts its Covid guidelines following the announcement last week from the Center for Disease Control that fully vaccinated individuals no longer need masks in most instances.
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