Knights Knotes — August 21, 2015
KNIGHT LIGHTS: The Charlotte Knights (Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox) will play a doubleheader tonight after last night’s opener of their seven-game homestand from BB&T Ballpark was postponed due to rain. Tonight, game one will start at 6:05 p.m. and there will be two seven-inning games against the Indianapolis Indians (Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates).
Charlotte concluded their five-game road trip on Tuesday with a 3–1 win over the Columbus Clippers in the finale of their two-game series. The Knights and Clippers split the two-game series and the Knights went 2–3 on the road trip to improve to 28–35 on the road this year. Charlotte enters tonight’s game in third place — 7.0 games behind the first place Norfolk Tides (Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles) in the IL South Division. The Knights are also 5.5 games out of the IL Wild Card race behind Columbus.
KNIGHTS GAME 1 STARTING PITCHER: RHP Hector Noesi (1–3, 4.05) will make his seventh start of the season with the Knights tonight and appear in his eighth game with the team overall. Noesi began the season with the White Sox and posted a 0–4 record with a 6.89 ERA for Chicago in 10 games.
He was outrighted off Chicago’s roster on June 26 and assigned to Charlotte on June 28. Just a few days later (July 2), Noesi was placed on Charlotte’s Temporary Inactive List. He was activated off the Temporary Inactive List and made his Charlotte debut on July 11 in Norfolk out of the team’s bullpen. He allowed two hits over two shutout innings, while striking out three batters. Originally signed by the New York Yankees as a free agent on December 3, 2004, Noesi owns a career major league record of 12–31 with a 5.30 ERA in 107 games (53 starts) over parts of five big league seasons. The White Sox claimed Noesi off waivers from the Texas Rangers on April 25, 2014. He went 8–11 with a 4.39 ERA in 28 games (27 starts) for Chicago last year. Tonight’s start will be his first-ever career start against the Indians.
KNIGHTS GAME 2 STARTING PITCHER: RHP Terance Marin (3–2, 2.64) will make his eighth start of 2015 (first since July 25 at Gwinnett) and appear in his 16th overall game with the Knights in 2015. Marin, who is celebrating his 26th birthday today, did not allow a run over his first five games (29.0 IP) and had a 31.0 consecutive scoreless innings streak snapped in the third inning of his July 5th start. Still, the Modesto, CA native tossed 8.2 innings to earn his third win of the season that day. His career with the Knights began on Friday, June 5, 2015 when he was assigned to the Knights after he was on loan to the Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican League earlier this year. He posted a 2–5 record with a 4.94 ERA in 10 games (nine starts) in 47.1 innings pitched for the Toros. Other notable names on that Toros team with Marin this season were Jose Contreras, Miguel Olivo, and Yuniesky Betancourt. Before returning this season, Marin last pitched in Chicago’s organization last season — going 4–3 with a 4.24 ERA in 14 games (70.0 IP) for the Winston-Salem Dash. He also spent time last season with Double-A Birmingham and was 0–2 with a 5.11 ERA in two games (12.1 IP). Marin, who was originally signed by the White Sox as a free agent on July 12, 2010, was released by the organization last year. He then signed with the Frontier League’s Evansville Otters, made six starts, and then was re-signed by the White Sox on June 19, 2014. Marin went undrafted out of Modesto Junior College.
REHABBING: Chicago White Sox RHP Daniel Webb, who is currently on Chicago’s 15-day disabled list with a back strain, will begin a major league rehab assignment with the Charlotte Knights tonight. Webb, 26, began the 2015 season with the Charlotte Knights and posted a 1–1 record with a 4.01 ERA in 15 games (24.2 IP). In 17 games with the White Sox this season, Webb is 1–0 with a 2.49 ERA (21.2 IP). The Paducah, Kentucky native spent the entire 2014 season with the Chicago White Sox and posted a 6–5 record with a 3.99 ERA in 57 games.
DOUBLEHEADERS: The Knights will play their second doubleheader of the season at BB&T Ballpark –first non-day/night doubleheader this season in Uptown Charlotte. The Knights played three doubleheaders on the road and are 2–6 overall in doubleheaders this season.
WHO’S HOT: Outfielder Tyler Colvin is hitting .357 (5-for-14) with three RBIs over his last five games… Catcher Rob Brantly launched his third home run of the season on Monday with the Knights in what was just his 14th game with the club since being promoted from Double-A Birmingham. Brantly, who is a member of Chicago’s 40-man roster, is now hitting .321 (17-for-53) with 10 runs scored and 12 RBIs. He has recorded at least two hits in six of his 14 games and has three games of three hits… 1B/OF Dayan Viciedo is hitting .389 (7-for-18) with three runs scored, one home run, and two RBIs over his last five games.
SINCE JULY 1: 1B/OF Matt Tuiasosopo leads the IL in home runs with 12 and has 31 RBIs over that span, which is the fifth highest in the IL over that span… Outfielder Jason Coats has hit eight home runs over that stretch, which is tied for fourth. He is also tied for fifth with Tuiasosopo over that span in RBIs (31). Coats also has 53 hits (tied for fifth).
IL LEADER IN OFFENSE & DEFENSE: 3B Matt Davidson is second behind Durham’s J.P. Arencibia (21) in the IL in home runs with 20 this season. Davidson has recorded at least 20 home runs in each of the last five seasons. He is second in the IL in games played (122), fourth in the IL in at-bats (460), and tied for fourth in walks (55). Defensively, Davidson has also had a terrific year. He leads all International League third baseman in fielding percentage (.973), as well as all IL third baseman in assists (241) and second in double plays (21). He was named by Baseball America as the Best Defensive 3B in the International League.
IL LEADERBOARD: 1B/OF Matt Tuiasosopo is third in the IL in slugging percentage (.473), and is second in the IL in best home run/at-bat ratio (1/18.50)… Infielder/outfielder Leury Garcia is batting .293 (90-for-307) this season in 79 games, good for tied for ninth in the IL in 2015. He is also currently third in the IL this season in stolen bases with 29… Catcher Kevan Smith leads all IL catchers in games (80)… OF Jason Coats is fourth in the IL in RBIs (74).
MOUND WARRIOR: RHP Erik Johnson (10–8, 2.38) lowered his ERA to an International League best 2.38 on the season and also moved into a tie for second in the league in wins with 10 on Tuesday. He also increased his IL-leading total of strikeouts (129) and is also second in the IL in WHIP (1.11) and opponents are hitting just .217 against him (second lowest).
HOME RUN KNIGHTS: The Knights currently lead the IL in long balls with 116–11 more than second place Durham (105). The Knights as a team have hit 79 of their 115 home runs this season at BB&T Ballpark. Last year, the Knights hit 105 of their 176 home runs at BB&T Ballpark. The Knights have the most homers at their home ballpark in all of Triple-A in 2015.
HOME SWEET HOME: In almost two seasons as BB&T Ballpark, the Knights are 72–62 overall and have welcomed over 1.2 million (1,272,396) fans. The ballpark led Minor League Baseball in attendance last season and the Knights are leading in average per game this year (9,430). Charlotte is second behind Indianapolis in 2015 overall, however Indianapolis has played two more home games (Charlotte has welcomed 584,681 to Indy’s 593,731).
KNIGHTS HISTORY: RHP Erik Johnson moved up the ranks in Knights franchise history on Tuesday. His commanding victory was his 19th as a member of the Knights, which is good for 10th all-time. He also moved into a tie for seventh all-time in strikeouts (249) and 10th all-time in games started (51)… 1B/OF Dayan Viciedo is eighth on the Knights franchise list for homers (42). He moved into a three-way tie for 10th place on the franchise list for RBIs (130)… 3B Matt Davidson hit his 40th Charlotte Knights home run on Monday (10th all-time)… Joel Skinner is the winningest manager in franchise history with 276 wins.
