White Sox Minor League Update (April 2): Knights 6, Redbirds 5

Charlotte Knights starters have not been good so far in the early season, but somehow, the bats and the bullpen have stepped up enough to have earned a 2-1 record. Pretty different than their MLB parent team in Chicago.

Davis Martin, the sixth man and supposed first starting pitcher up, was on the bump today and got into some early trouble. All four runs allowed came in the first two innings, including one homer given up. One of his issues last season was the long ball, but Charlotte isn’t the best judge of that. Though he sure did hang this slider:

Martin settled down for the next three innings and looked more like his 2022 self. After the second inning, Charlotte pitchers only allowed one more run, and that was why they were able to come back and win this game.

In fact by the fifth inning, the Knights had come all the way back and taken a 5-4 lead. Zach Remillard was the catalyst for the quick bounce-back, purely because every time he went up to the plate, he got on. He went 4-for-4, and one of those hits was a double. He started at first today after Jake Burger got time at third for the first time this year. Burger had a double, as well.

Yesterday’s hero, Adam Haseley, hit his second homer of the season, a solo shot. It was not as dramatic as the walk-off he had on Saturday, but still, he has at least shown that the tweaks to his swing are working. He has an early, eye-popping, 1.629 OPS.

The winning run was still a fun watch, just from a base-running standpoint. Sure, Remillard did everything he could at the plate on Sunday, but used his baseball smarts and instincts to get the winning run.

As mentioned already, the bullpen was on fire again. Nicholas Padilla (who did allow the only run), John Parke, and Lane Ramsey combined for the final four innings and had two strikeouts each. Notably Parke, who had been a starter in his career before this year, got some late-inning action. That is something to monitor here, given the lack of high-level lefties in the Sox minors; Parke could be the 2023 Tanner Banks.

Ramsey pitched the ninth inning yesterday as well, so it seems like he is the Charlotte closer. When a reliever consistently gets late-inning opportunities at any level in the minors, that is usually an indication the organization likes them. So, two games to keep the game tied or get the save in the ninth? Both Ramsey so far.