What do all these MLB veterans have in common: Billy Hamilton, Clint Frazier, Jake Marisnick, Stephen Piscotty, Erik Gonzalez, Tyler Naquin, Hanser Alberto and Kean Wong on the hitters’ side and Luke Farrell, Jordan Holloway, Bryan Shaw, Alex Colome, Mike Mayers, Jose Urena, Daniel Ponce de Leon, Deivi Garcia, Franklin German, Luis Patino, Yohan Ramirez and Brent Honeywell on the mound?
Yep, they were all members of the 2023 Charlotte Knights.
Triple-A rosters these days are essentially taxi squads and, to that end, there was a steady flow of veterans to and from Charlotte. There’s always a lot of change with the Charlotte roster, but the churning this year felt like a record-setting pace, though I’m not sure why.
Regardless, in the end, the Knights finished last in the 20-team International League, at 53-96. Yet, as dismal as it ended, the season looked promising early on.
For more than two months, the Knights’ rotation included Jesse Scholtens, Nate Fisher, Davis Martin and Sean Burke and the team flirted with .500. But it was not to be, as Scholtens got the call to Chicago, Martin and Burke went on the IL, Fisher tailed off, and wins became few and far between. After a respectable record of 35-40 in the first half, the Knights finished the second half of the season at 18-56.
Below is a list of names that caught my attention this season.
Victor Reyes
He was so deserving of a call-up but the phone never rang for him. Although, it did for 25 of his teammates. He didn’t pout. All he did was hit from the first game of the season to the last. In the end, he led the team in average (.279), home runs (20) and RBIs (83).
I suspect it was nothing more than a timing issue. Early in the season, the White Sox might not have brought up Reyes because he was out of options and they didn’t want to have to waive him if and when missing players returned. So they turned instead to Hamilton and Marisnick and Frazier. And, before you knew it, the Sox were 20 games under .500 and the season was a bust.
Carlos Perez
Perez had a spectacular 2022, leading the international league for much of the season as the toughest player to strike out while steadily improving his defense. He found himself back in Charlotte for 2023 while Seby Zavala backed up Yasmani Grandal, and was largely ignored for most of this season. He finally got a look with the big-league club as the season wound down. There’s an opportunity next season for him in Chicago, but also a lot of competition.
Laz Rivera
Minor League Baseball can be cruel. Not only can your path to the major leagues be blocked, but sometimes there are too many guys ahead of you on your own MiLB team. That’s been the unfortunate case for Rivera, who has been in Charlotte for two seasons and never got much playing time in either. He slashed .231/.296/.313 across 52 games in 2023. At 29, his professional baseball career is at a crossroads.
Yolbert Sanchez
I saw a lot of improvement in Sanchez this year at the plate and especially in the field, including a lot of time at third base, a relatively new position. But, at 26, Sanchez is no longer a highly valued prospect by the White Sox and he’ll have a new home in 2024 as he was released with a week to go in the season.
Davis Martin
On April 14, Martin pitched six innings of shut-out baseball, striking out 11 while giving up just three hits. It was a masterful performance and he was on the cusp, no doubt, of an extended run in Chicago. But he went on the IL and ended up having TJ surgery. Again, minor-league baseball can be brutal at times.
Sean Burke
Chris Getz said he envisioned Sean Burke as a depth piece for the White Sox at some point in 2023 but an injury in June after just nine starts put an end to his season. He logged a scant 36.2 innings but there could still be a role for him in Chicago next season if he can regain his form in Charlotte.
Erik Gonzalez
When the Knights were playing competitive baseball early in the season, Gonzalez was one of the linchpins, even if he was flying far below the radar. He didn’t do a lot at the plate and usually hit near the bottom of the batting order, but his solid defense at shortstop was a key component of the team’s success.
Adam Hackenberg
Even though he played the final two months of the season in Charlotte, Hackenberg was most likely auditioning for a role in Chicago in 2024. One of Chris Getz’s many decisions this off-season is at catcher, where he heads into the next year with Korey Lee and Carlos Perez as the lone returnees. I’m betting Getz brings in a veteran on a one-year deal and lets Lee, Perez and Hackenberg go to Spring Training to win the back-up job.
Yoelqui Céspedes
I didn’t see any Barons games in person so I’m reluctant to say too much about his season, but Céspedes’ stats were fairly underwhelming until August. That said, I was impressed with both his plate skills and his defense in his 11 games in Charlotte. In this tiny sample, he had 17 hits in 47 at bats and, importantly, just seven strikeouts. Céspedes is Rule 5 eligible this off-season and I have no clue if he sticks with the Sox.
Adam Haseley
I’m a big fan of Adam personally but I think his best move is to hit the open market and see if there’s an organization out there that is a better fit.
Zach Remillard
Zach Remillard: Major Leaguer. Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? A fan-favorite in both Charlotte and Chicago, he is the ultimate role player because he can play seven positions and is fundamentally sound as they come. Remillard signed with the Sox as a free agent last off-season. Does Getz bring him back in 2024?
Nate Mondou
Mondou quietly had a solid season, leading the team in OBP (.379) and walks (69), and was second to Reyes in RBIs with 61. But, at 28, it is unclear if there is a role for him with the Sox.
Nick Nastrini, Cristian Mena and Jordan Leasure
The trio of big-time arms added a bit of excitement to an otherwise painful end to the Triple-A season. I’ll be shocked if Nastrini and Leasure don’t open 2024 in Chicago, and Nastrini’s five innings of hitless ball in his final start of the season only strengthened that argument. But, if they are with the Knights next April, I’d have to think it’ll be brief stays unless things really go sideways.
Johan Dominguez
Dominguez made a successful return from TJ surgery this year and looks more and more like his former dominating self. I imagine he’ll be in Charlotte next year, working to improve some command issues, but I can easily see him playing a role in Chicago in 2024.
A Look At The Knights’ Roster In 2024
I imagine another batch of veterans will comprise the 2024 Charlotte Knights because that’s what baseball has become, but there are a lot of big-upside prospects in Birmingham who could spend some time in Charlotte as well.
That said, I can’t get a handle on just how much time the White Sox actually like their prospects to spend in Charlotte. The wind currents that turn routine fly balls into homers can really mess with pitchers, but the White Sox often don’t keep their top hitters here much either.
Can’t-miss guys like Tim Anderson and Luis Robert were barely in Charlotte for a cup of coffee. And Oscar Colas was here for just the final seven games of the 2022 season before making the White Sox out of spring training this year. I can’t imagine Colson Montgomery will spend much time here, either, as there’s a strong chance we see him in Chicago at some point in 2024.
I suspect we’re also likely to see: Bryan Ramos, Tim Elko, Jonathan Cannon and Matthew Thompson. And there could be a river of relievers, including some of the older guys like Tristan Stivors, Chase Plymell, Gil Luna and Fraser Ellard.
I wonder about the timetables for Mason Adams, Wilfred Veras, Ky Bush, Jake Eder and Edgar Quero. A colleague also recently suggested Michael Turner comes to Charlotte while Quero stays in Birmingham and Calvin Harris goes to Winston-Salem. That’s an impressive list of backstops wherever they end up.