White Sox Minor League Update: Knights 13, Redbirds 3

It’s only Charlotte, but it scored enough runs for all the farm

It is only Charlotte baseball from here on out — at least until the Arizona Fall League starts and then it only is a handful of White Sox org players, but you get the point. On Day 1 of Knights-only baseball, they brought their bats to play in a blowout win.

Eight of the nine batters reached base, and seven of them had hits. The only hitter who didn’t get on base (which really speaks to the type of season he has had) was José Rodríguez. Víctor Reyes was one of the handful of players with a multihit day, you had to have a few with 12 team hits. Reyes had the only home run though, which in a 13-run game is really impressive.

Yoelqui Céspedes, Erik González, and Laz Rivera were the other three with at least two hits. Céspedes has had a nice start to his Triple-A career. He has also had a disappointing season, but he still plays a good center field and can hit lefties pretty well. His Double-A OPS against lefthanders was .742, compared to .609 vs. righties.

On the pitching side, it was another Cristian Mena start, and he still is showing issues. Yeah, the control was there (no walks), but eight hits allowed in five innings isn’t cutting it. The four strikeouts along with those hits indicate a pitcher who couldn’t beat opposing batters with his stuff, which isn’t great for a top pitching prospect this close to the majors.

The bullpen was fun, though, with four shutout innings and five strikeouts. The combination of Declan Cronin, Alejandro Mateo, and Edgar Navarro closed out the 13-3 victory.