As the Knights head into the final five series of the season, plenty of intrigue remains. The team had a rare night off Friday because of an NFL game next door in Bank of America stadium, giving me a chance to step back and think about the biggest unanswered questions during the final 32 games of the year.
Here are those questions, in order of interest (well, mine anyway):
What will Romy Gonzalez do for an encore?
In his first 20 Triple-A plate appearances, he has three home runs, four doubles, a single, a walk, 10 RBI, a stolen base and just two strikeouts. Manager Wes Helms noted this week that even Gonzalez’ outs are impressive.
This is his first full year as an infielder but he looks very much at home at second and short. All eyes are on him now as he suddenly finds himself playing for a spring training invite — and perhaps more!
Will the real Blake Rutherford please stand up?
The final month-plus of the season looms large for Rutherford, who struggled greatly for much of the 2021 season. He’s clearly found a new gear in the past month and Helms believes the improvement is real and a sign of things to come.
If Thursday’s game is a sign of what lies ahead, it will be much-watch baseball: two homeruns, a double, three runs and five RBI. I’m pulling for him — being a first-round draft pick (2016) has to be a crazy amount of added pressure to the already lofty expectations he likely holds for himself.
Will Micker Adolfo tap into his immense baseball skills before the clock strikes midnight?
The White Sox lose the rights to Adolfo after this season (unless he makes the major-league roster in 2022). So NOW is the time for him to turn it on, at least as far as the White Sox are concerned.
There’s no denying prodigeous talent. At 6’4, 225 pounds, he passes the eye test. And seeing a few of his throws from the outfield suggests he has the best arm on the team. But there are holes in his swing that only more at bats will cure. How many at bats he needs, and where he gets them, is the million-dollar question.
Who will fill out the Knights’ starting rotation?
The Knights have a shortage of starters, especially since the injury last week that sidelined Jonathan Stiever for the season. It is an immediate concern as the team has seven games in six days in Norfolk this week.
Right now, the team has three stretched out starters — Alex McRae, John Parke and Kade McClure — plus Jimmy Lambert, who has been pitching just three to four innings per start for the past several weeks as the White Sox attempt to keep him available for September.
That’s a heavy load for any bullpen, even with expanded rosters this year. The Knights did get reinforcements this past week in the person of Anderson Severino, a one-inning reliever, but I’m guessing there may be one more promotion in the works. It is possible that, rather than a promotion from Birmingham, the Knights see a demotion — from Chicago, in Mike Wright, who has pitched in just three low-leverage situations since his call-up on Aug. 16.
Speaking of call-ups, who gets tabbed on September 1 when MLB rosters expand by two?
I have no idea. A reliever and a position player?
At present, White Sox regulars Danny Mendick and Billy Hamilton (on rehab) are on the Charlotte roster, along with Jake Burger, Gavin Sheets, Yermin Mercedes and Zack Collins. It isn’t an easy choice, but it is a nice problem for the White Sox to have.
In addition to possible spot starts from Lambert, several relievers are making strong cases for a shot in Chicago, led by Kyle Crick, a veteran reliever signed in late July and and has yet to be scored upon in seven appearances for the Knights. (But Crick is not on the 40-man roster, complicating such a move.)
Evan Marshall also just arrived in Charlotte on a rehab assignment, and Matt Foster and Ryan Burr are back in Charlotte after long stretches with the White Sox. All three are on the 40-man.
Are there any other players of interest these last few weeks?
Yes, I am curious to see the development of three pitchers: Severino, Parke and McClure.
In the recently released FutureSox Top 30, McClure weighed in at #19 following a strong season this year in Birmingham. Severino and Parke are unranked.
McClure’s first three starts in Charlotte have been mediocre, statistically, but I came away impressed by his feel for his breaking pitches. Helms agreed, but noted that the adjustment from Double-AA to Triple-AAA, and Birmingham to Charlotte in particular, is that your pitches cannot get too much of the plate, regardless of the movement.
“So even though his stuff was pretty good last night,” Helms explained to me earlier this week after McClure’s last start, “he just has to learn how to attack these hitters differently. Sometimes a pitcher, even though he’s got good stuff like Kade did last night, is going to go through that period when hitters hit him in-zone, and he just has to make the adjustment on the location of his pitches to get the soft contact or swing and miss. You’ve got a ball that’s catching five innings of the plate, you move it and it only catches two inches, now they don’t drive that ball like they normally do and you get some soft contact.”
John Parke is also an interesting guy. He doesn’t have McClure’s velocity, and maybe not his upside either, but he is effective and my bet to replace Wright as the guy on the staff who repeatedly saves the bullpen and goes deeper into games than the other starters. Parke works quickly and lives at the bottom of the zone with a fastball that tails away from righties and down and in to lefties — and generates tons of ground balls. He’s fun to watch.
And, finally, speaking of velocity, and fun, there’s Severino. He’s appeared in just two games so far, the first time with a fastball between 99-101 mph and a wicked 77-mph curveball that he was able to command. In his second game, last night, the fastball sat 99 but Severino struggled with his command on both pitches. He’ll be an entertaining one as well.
Photo credit: Caleb Probst/FutureSox
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The White Sox currently have 14 pitchers on their active roster. I believe that number will remain when rosters can expand by two on September 1st. They can either keep SP Mike Wright as long man option with Dallas Keuchel struggling, a role that Reynaldo Lopez currently has, or they can demote him to AAA to help ease Charlotte’s need for starting pitchers as they complete their final 32 games. If Wright goes back to AAA ahead of September 1st then I’d presume one of Matt Foster or Ryan Burr gets the call since Evan Marshall just began his rehab assignment. Ideally, the White Sox would add a southpaw to their bullpen with Aaron Bummer struggling and Garrett Crochet the only ‘reliable’ lefty in the pen as we post. Jace Fry wasn’t mentioned in the article as a possible promotion candidate but I did notice he was pitching for Charlotte this afternoon and was sporting a 2.61 ERA for the Knights in 25 games when he entered the game. If Fry is healthy and productive this weekend, he just might be the pitcher the White Sox add by next Wednesday. Like Foster and Burr, Fry is also already on the White Sox 40-man roster which simplifies things come September 1st.
With the White Sox likely to roll with 14 pitchers, I’d anticipate that two positional players will be added to complete the 28 man active roster on or by September 1st. One figures to be rehabbing OF Billie Hamilton. The other is anyone’s guess but you’d think the team would prefer having 3 catchers on hand with Yasmani Grandal just returning from the IL. With that in mind, I’ll guess that one of Zack Collins or Yermin Mercedes will get the other spot. If I had to choose between the two, I’d probably pick Collins because he’s the far better defensive option and also provides a lefty bat to the White Sox bench.
To follow up, Fry wound up pitching one inning in the first game of a doubleheader loss versus the Durham Bulls. He notched a perfect frame with 3 SO’s. Meanwhile, Foster allowed two ER’s in his lone inning of work with Ryan Burr and Evan Marshall not entering the game. Clearly Fry is healthy so he just might be the arm the White Sox consider adding when rosters can be expanded to 28 come Wednesday, September 1st.
Good points, thanks. Yep, It was good to see Fry pitch well today. That’s two really nice outings in a row.