The Eloy Jimenez show moves onto Chicago, as it was announced he will rejoin the big league club in Kansas City beginning Monday, July 26. Despite the lack of fireworks provided by Jimenez during his time with Charlotte, we eventually got to see an impressive salvo by another newcomer, Micker Adolfo, who was promoted from Birmingham earlier in the week. Adolfo erupted for two home runs and five RBI in Sunday’s 15-9 loss to the Bulls.
The Knights return home for seven games in six days, but those contests will take a back seat to several intriguing roster decisions in Chicago and the approaching MLB trade deadline at 4 PM Friday, all of which will no doubt affect the Charlotte roster.
Most immediately, of course, is whose spot does Jimenez occupy. There’s also the matter of Jake Lamb, who continues rehabbing in Charlotte and appears ready to return to Chicago. Will any of these changes mean that former Knights Gavin Sheets and/or Jake Burger are returned to Charlotte?
Meanwhile, Luis Robert continues his rehabbing in Winston-Salem, though a relocation to Charlotte as early as this week would be consistent with Jimenez’ progression. As if those aren’t enough headlines, there was a bit of mid-week drama when Yermin Mercedes stepped away from baseball — for about 12 hours. After announcing on his Instagram he would be stepping away from baseball for an undisclosed amount of time, Mercedes returned to the ballclub the next day and was later re-inserted into the lineup after missing just one contest.
There were still other roster moves, highlighted by the White Sox call-up of Reynaldo Lopez and the demotions of Jace Fry and Matt Foster. Luis Gonzalez went on the IL for an as-yet undisclosed injury. Recent addition Johan Cruz also went on the IL after what appeared to be a shoulder dislocation one week earlier. Finally, Keyvius Sampson was released and Bennett Sousa and Lane Ramsey were promoted from Birmingham to Charlotte.
As this shuffling took place, the Knights’ losing streak of 11 games came to an end on Friday when Mike Wright and three relievers tossed a two-hit shutout.
Rehab Watch
Jimenez didn’t exactly take Triple-A by storm, as his swing clearly had a lot of rust. Through 38 at bats, he had three extra-base hits to go along with 14 strikeouts and just two RBI. Lamb isn’t exactly ripping the cover off the ball either, with six hits, including two doubles and two homers, in 32 at bats.
A Closer Look At The Knights’ Losing Streak
Early in the season, the Knights’ pitching staff was the team’s biggest anchor. Then, a few weeks ago, as the starters got stretched out and the staff began to finally find the strike zone, Gavin Sheets and Jake Burger were promoted to Chicago and the Knights’ offense sputtered without consistent RBI guys in the middle of the lineup.
It appeared that problem might be short-lived with the arrival in Charlotte of Jimenez, Lamb, Mercedez and more recently Adolfo. And Mercedes has done his part. In 70 at bats over 18 minor-league games, Mercedes sports a .329 average with six home runs and 12 RBI. To his credit, he has but 13 strikeouts.
However, Jimenez and Lamb were drags on the offense, and Adolfo was fairly quiet in his first few games in Triple-A before his two-home run outburst today. His reputation is that of a hitter whose power is rivaled only by the swing-and-miss in his game.
As far as the rest of the team, Gonzalez was heating up before moving to the IL, hitting .309 with four homers in his last 30 days. Likewise, Nick Williams hit .314 with nine extra-base hits in the same period. And Mikie Mahtook and Zach Remillard each have six homers also in the last 30 days.
Blake Rutherford had seven hits in 21 at bats in the Durham series, and Laz Rivera is off to a nice start since his promotion from Birmingham, going 6-for-16 with a home run.
The Pitching Staff
Wright, the team’s ace and savior, regained his form and pitched 5.2 innings of two-hit, shutout ball on Friday. He has now pitched at least five innings in all 13 of his starts. I doubt all the other starters combined have accomplished that.
Wright had slipped a bit in his last three starts but that appears to be ancient history. Pitching coach Matt Zaleski didn’t go into details but said Wright’s recent slip in performance was due to a “glitch” in his mechanics. Zaleski doesn’t think Wright is tired, despite leading the Triple-A East in innings pitched. Unlike virtually every other Triple-A pitcher, Wright pitched last year (in Japan) and probably has the arm strength to maintain his heavy workload.
Jonathan Stiever also had a solid five-inning outing on Tuesday, giving up seven hits, three earned runs, one walk and one home run while striking out seven. But his second start of the week, on Sunday, was a setback. Taking a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the fourth, he surrendered two walks, a single, double, triple and wild pitch before exiting.
Jimmy Lambert also had a rough start in Durham. Zaleski said Lambert’s problems have been a four-seam fastball intended to be thrown off the plate that has been backing up over the plate a bit. Zaleski and Lambert have also changed his slider grip to create more horizontal break, and it has proven to be a useful tool of late against right-handed batters. Lambert has very repeatable mechanics.
After multiple epic collapses at home against Gwinnett, the bullpen appeared back in form in Durham. Until Saturday and Sunday. Several relievers were hit hard and both games got out of hand quickly.
In 49 innings over six games in Durham, the Knights’ staff was battered for 51 hits, 25 walks and 12 home runs.
After losing five of six in Durham, the Knights are 26-44.
Up Next
The Knights return home this week for seven games against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Marlins), including a doubleheader on Thursday.
Photo credit: Sean Williams/FutureSox
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