With Davis Martin’s season-ending injury, Jesse Scholtens moves to the top of the spot-starter queue.
Scholtens and Nate Fisher have been Charlotte’s most effective hurlers this year, but only Scholtens is on the 40-man roster. He was a late scratch in his Sunday start in Charlotte.
Scholtens, 29, is a right hander who throws a fastball, slider, curve and a split change (a relatively new pitch). It is a slow curve — very slow — that may likely cross the plate at 69-71 mph.
Scholtens was a 2016 9th round draft pick of the San Diego Padres. He elected free agency in November 2022 and was signed by the White Sox.
And if the White Sox need another arm beyond Scholtens? My guess is Tanner Banks. He’s on the 40-man and may be getting stretched out a bit, as he threw 41 pitches last week in a three-inning stint out of the pen.
The Clint Frazier Redemption Tour
Clint Frazier had a phenomenal 16 games with the Charlotte Knights (.375/.478/.839). Now he gets his chance to show what he can do for the White Sox.
It has been a long road back for the former first-round draft pick of Cleveland and long-time Yankee. His struggles with the Yankees included inconsistent defense and criticisms of an indifferent attitude.
But the 28-year-old Frazier on display in Charlotte the past three weeks bears little resemblance to his former self.
His bat has been on fire, with seven HRs and five doubles in 66 plate appearances. He also has demonstrated nice plate discipline, as evidenced by 10 walks, and a respectable 25% strikeout rate. It is a small sample size, but Frazier also played a flawless right field for the Knights.
But I suspect his biggest improvement is between the ears. There’s a calmness about him that suggests a level of maturity and introspection that was likely missing early in his career.
What About Victor Reyes?
Victor Reyes must be wondering what it takes for him to get a look-see in Chicago. With Adam Haseley, Billy Hamilton, Jake Marisnick and now Clint Frazier leap-frogging him in the outfield queue to the White Sox 26-man roster, Reyes just keeps on hitting in Charlotte.
He’s been the Knights’ most consistent hitter all season, with a slash line of .316/.370/.533. His 39 RBIs are more than double any other Knight, and he has nine doubles and eight HRs. He’s also been very solid in the outfield.
Two Other Hot Bats In Charlotte
Two other current Charlotte Knights, Oscar Colás and Lenyn Sosa, didn’t slip into funks upon disappointing results in Chicago and demotions to Triple-A. Both are pounding the ball while waiting for their next opportunities with the big-league squad.
I spoke to Colas last week about his MLB time, and while he said all the right things, he admitted that it is a struggle to become a more patient hitter, as the White Sox are emphasizing during his return to Charlotte.
In a May 14 article in The Athletic, James Fegan reported that Colas swung at a whopping 43% of pitches outside the strike zone, hence the renewed emphasis on plate discipline. But Colás acknowledged that he’s an aggressive hitter by nature, and the change is a challenging one.
What Has Happened To The Knights?
Two weeks ago, the Knights split a tough six-game series with their nemesis, the Durham Bulls, and entered last week just one game below .500, with another six games at home and a great opportunity to get onto the plus side of a winning record.
But their opponent, the Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRiders, the Yankees’ affiliate, had other ideas, outscoring the Knights 56-26 and out-homering them 20-11 in the series.
Manager Justin Jirschele may have had a hint that the week would be a struggle when he directed a tirade toward the home plate umpire during the first game of the series, on Tuesday, complete with finger pointing, hat throwing and an ejection. If the outburst was meant to spark his team, however, it did no such thing, as the Knights lost the first four games of the series in an especially ugly fashion.
This is the call that started the rally tonight against the #Knights. Justin Jirschele was not happy and he got HEATED. A whole lot of quality finger points, some yelling, and hat throwing. The replay at the end clearly show the call was egregious. #WhiteSox pic.twitter.com/9DV2JAUVvg
— White Sox Daily (@dailywhitesox) May 17, 2023
The Knights’ rotation has been decimated by injuries (Jonathan Stiever, John Parke and Davis Martin) and underperformance (Sean Burke and AJ Alexy), and was exposed by the RailRiders. Entering Saturday’s game, the Knights’ season seemed to be hanging by a thread. The team was 19-24 and free-falling in the standings.
To compound matters, the Knights needed to turn to Birmingham for an emergency starter for Saturday’s game. In stepped Garrett Davila, who responded to the tall task with six innings of one-run ball as the Knights pulled out a 7-5 win and stopped the losing streak at four.
Then, on Sunday, the Knights made it two in a row with a gutsy 4-2 win, highlighted by a resurgent pitching staff. In the end, despite all of the week’s ugliness and struggles, the team stood 21-24 as it hit the road to Jacksonville to square off against the Marlins’ affiliate.
How would Banks’ stuff fare trying to get through an MLB order 2x?
I wouldn’t banks on him making it through a second time
When you go into the season with no starting pitching depth you’re not intending to make the playoffs.