The White Sox turned to the Knights for a starter in today’s doubleheader and the selection caught just about everyone off guard. Instead of choosing veteran Reynaldo Lopez or FutureSox #6 prospect Jonathan Stiever, the Sox tabbed Jimmy Lambert (#15), who has managed just 11.2 innings in five starts this season.
Mike Wright has actually been the Knights’ most effective starter this season, but he’s not on the 40-man roster, so he isn’t an option at the moment.
I’ll take a closer look at Lambert’s performance this season later in this article. But his selection raises these questions: who else in Charlotte can help the White Sox right now, who are likely trade pieces at this year’s deadline and who can boost the big-league club down the road?
In this weekly recap, I’ll offer some thoughts on these possibilities as well as look at the past week, the season to date and the week ahead.
Note: Covid restrictions have made it near-impossible to catch up with Knights hitting coach Chris Johnson and pitching coach Matt Zaleski. But the Knights return home this week, and I’m hoping some Covid guidelines are relaxed enough to be able to talk to the coaches about Gavin Sheets, Jake Burger, Stiever, Lambert and others. Keep an eye out for those interviews. Fingers crossed!
Answering the Call from Chicago for a Bat
What would the White Sox do if Yermin Mercedes, Jose Abreu or Yoan Moncada went on the IL?
Among the obvious options are Jake Burger and Gavin Sheets. Both have been impressive so far this season, squaring up the ball often, with power. The question is whether they are ready to take the next step to the big leagues.
Keep in mind that an emergency bat would likely have to come from Charlotte. Triple-A and MLB players are in the same “Covid bubble,” so players can move seamlessly between Charlotte and Chicago. But players from Birmingham and lower levels would need to quarantine for several days before being allowed to join the White Sox. This provides even more incentive for the White Sox to promote players from Birmingham or possibly Winston-Salem to Charlotte during the season.
But back to Burger and Sheets and their odds of a call-up.
Sheets is the easy call. He’s hit at every level of the minor leagues, with a career slash line of .283/.359/.416 and a gaudy .326/.370/.512 so far this year. The biggest question is whether he has enough power to play first base, his natural position, or DH. To date, he has just 30 homers in almost 1,200 minor league at bats.
If the White Sox found themselves in need of a Designated Hitter, at least on an interim basis, I think Sheets might hold his own — even if he didn’t hit many home runs — at least until reinforcements could be obtained at the trade deadline. Longer term, it is still unclear if Sheets develops the power needed to be a regular first baseman or DH in the majors, and how much of an impediment that is to his advancement.
Burger is the tougher call, with just 75 minor-league at bats since his last full season, at Low-A, in 2017. Given his time away from the game, he looks phenomenal, so much so that I think his bat might also handle the jump to the big leagues. Whether his body is able to endure a full season at any level remains to be seen. I have my doubts that he is physically ready just yet.
Of course, both are far from locks to succeed immediately in the big leagues. It is the exception, rather than the rule, that rookies do well on their initial forays in the majors. That’s why I think the White Sox would lean toward one of the MLB veterans on the Knights ahead of Sheets or Burger. But with every home run or RBI, the duo builds a stronger case to jump to the head of the line. And, as Lambert’s selection proves, the White Sox aren’t afraid to opt for a prospect over a veteran.
Longer term, it is unclear if a position will open up with the White Sox for either player. Sheets is trying to expand his versatility by playing half of his games in right field. It is too soon to know if this experiment will work, and will likely take at least a full season in the minors before the answer is clear. Meanwhile, this past off-season, Burger lost 40 pounds and played tennis regularly to increase his agility but how much this helps his defense is also up for debate.
So does that make them more likely to be trade bait?
Perhaps, but, as 25-year-old corner infielders, both players are a bit old for prospects. Teams may prefer to gamble on younger, middle-of-the-field defenders. At the same time, by the MLB July 30th trade deadline, both Sheets and Burger will have completed almost two-thirds of their Triple-A seasons. If they both continue to make good contact and Burger does not tire or break down, they’ll be much less risky and more projectable as major leaguers — and more tradable.
I expect Lambert and Stiever’s names will come up a lot in trade talks. Otherwise, opponents will probably be asking about players on the team just north of Charlotte, in Kannapolis.
Meanwhile, beyond Sheets and Burger, other call-up options include MLB veterans Tim Beckham or Marco Hernandez if a middle infielder is needed, or Seby Zavala at catcher. But things get a lot murkier if the White Sox need an outfielder. The Knights have three players with over 800 major league at bats: Brian Goodwin, Nick Williams and Mikie Mahtook, with career MLB batting averages of .250, .251 and .235, respectively. Younger outfielders with perhaps more long-term upside are Luis Gonzalez and Blake Rutherford, both of whom need more seasoning in Triple-A.
For what it is worth, four weeks into the season, Rutherford leads the fivesome in batting, with a .309 average, while Mahtook is tops with four homers. The first call-up is likely Goodwin’s job to lose, and he appears to be warming up after a slow start, hitting .258 with three home runs.
Answering the Call in Chicago for an Arm
If Wright had been on the 40-man roster, I would have bet the ranch that he was the obvious choice for a spot start. Wright has clearly been the best starter on the staff, with a 2.74 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and opponent batting average of .209. He’s made four starts, pitching 23 innings, most on the team. In his last start, Wright pitched a beauty, going seven innings and giving up just five hits and two earned runs. He has MLB experience and is stretched out more than any of Charlotte’s other starters.
But Lambert and Stiever also have looked good. Though both have inflated ERAs, WHIPs and opponent batting averages, they’ve flashed nice velocity and decent control. Lambert has been on a very tight pitch count as he returns from Tommy John surgery, though he did reach 70 pitches and three innings in his last start. In his 11.2 innings this season, Lambert has struck out 23 and walked only six. Meanwhile, Stiever has pitched 13.0 innings in four starts, with 15 strikeouts and seven walks.
Finding a reliable reliever to send to Chicago is another matter. Among the Knights relievers on the Chicago 40-man roster are Zack Burdi, Ryan Burr, Tyler Johnson and Alex McRae. While none of the four have demonstrated the necessary consistency so far this season, it was Burr who got the first call-up, earlier this week. All but Johnson have at least a little major-league experience.
Burdi was on a fast-track to the majors before injuries derailed his career. If he can regain his stuff, he’ll definitely find himself permanently in Chicago sooner than later. As it is, he was recalled Saturday as the 27th man for a doubleheader. Johnson also is an impressive reliever, with excellent results at every level of the minors. But he’s only tossed 3.1 innings this season, with awful results, so I have to wonder if he’s battling an injury. Still, I like his upside and expect him to eventually become one of the Knights’ most dependable arms.
Though he may not have the upside of the bullpen arms on the 40-man roster, I’ve been impressed with Nik Turley, 31, albeit in a small sample of eight appearances and 8.1 innings.
I’m anxious to ask Zaleski about the dismal performance of the Knights’ pen, who is ready, if anyone, to help the White Sox now, and how the decision was made to tab Burr, Burdi and Lambert for the first call-ups.
Week in Review
The Knights traveled to Norfolk last week to play a team from whom they took five of six games in Charlotte two weeks earlier. Excluding a 25-hit, 17-run mauling of the Tides on Thursday, the team struggled, losing four of five.
Prior to Thursday’s game, the Knights lost the first three games of the series as the pitching staff surrrendered 25 runs. While the offense looked a little flat, the pitching staff never gave the team a chance, blowing a lead late in game one and putting the team in huge deficits early in games two and three.
Season in Review
This is pretty simple. The offense looks powerful, led by Sheets, Burger, Rutherford, Hernandez, Zavala and Mahtook. And Wright, Lambert and Stiever are off to encouraging starts on the mound. But the rest of the staff has been deadly, ranking near the bottom of the 20-team league in most pitching categories.
The Knights have a lot of power arms in its bullpen, and its 229 strikeouts in 204 innings this season ranks 10th in the league. But it is last by a huge margin in walks and, as a result, last in team WHIP, at 1.66. I’m confident that the team would have a winning record if the bullpen had just been average. Part of the reason for the unacceptable number of walks is that few of the relievers have thrown their breaking pitches with any consistency. But the good news is that it is extremely early in the season — about a dozen relievers have yet to toss 10 innings.
Up Next: Nashville Sounds
The division-leading Sounds (16-5) come to Charlotte for six games this week. I suspect the record is a bit misleading though, as three of Nashville’s four series have been against teams with losing records.
The Sounds are the farm team of the Milwaukee Brewers, which has one of the weaker minor league systems in baseball. Among the team’s top prospects at Triple-A are #5 Mario Feliciano, C; #7 Alan Ashby, P; #17 Patrick Weigel, P; #24 Corey Ray, OF; and #25 Clayton Andrews, P & OF.
Like so many other Triple-A teams, the Sounds have several guys with major-league experience for emergency depth for the big-league club. These include a bevy of infielders: Hernan Perez, Logan Forsythe, Jace Peterson, Daniel Robertson and Tim Lopes; outfielder Derek Fisher; catcher Like Maile; and pitchers Zach Godley, Eric Lauer, Josh Lindblom and Eric Yardley.
Roster News
Reliever Jacob Lindgren was transferred to the Kannapolis Intimidators. Lindgren is among the many Knights relievers who struggled early with control, issuing 11 walks in 7.0 innings.
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