As dreadful as the White Sox were in 2023, the Charlotte Knights suffered more, because whatever talent that emerged as adequate at Triple-A was then thrown into the major league fire. They used 51 different pitchers over the course of the season, and often found themselves going several days without a traditional starter during a miserable second half in which they lost 56 of 74 games.
As long as the quality of the White Sox 26-man roster remains sketchy, there's always a chance that the Knights could be thrown into utter disarray once again. That said, it seems like Chris Getz, Josh Barfield and Paul Janish have offered an apology to Justin Jirschele, Donnie Veal and Tommy Viola in the form of Charlotte's initial roster.
They've compensated for last year's disintegration by carrying more starting pitchers than rotation spots on Opening Day, and aside from Colson Montgomery and Jonathan Cannon, the White Sox have temporarily tabled other promotions from Birmingham. It's not the most exciting roster with regards to youth and upside, but the Knights are at least in position to absorb a few promotions if Chicago comes calling early. That should buy them at least a month, after which everything is subject to considerable change.
Coaching Staff
- Manager: Justin Jirschele
- Pitching coach: R.C. Lichtenstein
- Pitching coach: Donnie Veal
- Hitting coach: Cam Seitzer
- Bench coach: Pat Listach
Jirschele and Seitzer return for second seasons with the Knights, but the pitching side will be different. While R.C. Lichtenstein sounds like last year's International Handball Federation bronze medalists, it's actually 1) an individual person, 2) a pitching coach who spent time up and down the ladder in the Tampa Bay organization, and 3) a local product with stories to tell. He's joined by Veal, who spent part of the season in Charlotte after Everett Teaford's departure for Auburn forced a reshuffling of pitching development personnel. Listach is new to the organization, but has plenty of minor-league managerial experience himself.
Starting Pitchers
Cannon will make his Triple-A debut, and his promotion might be the most aggressive assignment on the roster, because if he opened the season in Birmingham, I wouldn't have thought anything of it. He posted because it was more bad than good with the Barons, he's still trying to figure out his best four pitches, and Truist Field is no place for a pitcher to find confidence. The same could be said about Arizona, though, and Cannon threw 11 strong innings in the Cactus League this spring, so he made a case for more.
He's joined by Shuster, who has to prove that his ceiling extends beyond Triple-A. He's thrown 128 innings for Gwinnett over the last two seasons, with too many homers (20) and walks (61), especially relative to the strikeout total (103). The early returns from spring training failed to encourage (19.29 ERA, 3.43 WHIP).
Dominguez will see time in Charlotte for a fourth consecutive year. The White Sox must like the cut of his jib, because he's 28, he's had his last two seasons interrupted by Tommy John surgery, and he's still in the picture. Woodford and Kuhl round out the rotation as veteran ballast, with Woodford getting the Opening Day assignment.
Bullpen
- Justin Anderson
- Prelander Berroa
- Jake Cousins
- Fraser Ellard
- Bailey Horn
- Nicholas Padilla
- Lane Ramsey
- Alex Speas
- Touki Toussaint
It's good to see Berroa on the roster, because an arm/shoulder issue ended his Cactus League season early, and he's supposed to provide some bat-missing upside in the MLB bullpen over the course of the season. Anderson and Cousins entered the organization as spring training non-roster invitees, and if you're just joining us, they're slider-first arms with some MLB success. Toussaint survived the DFA, and perhaps it's telegraphing any future MLB intent that they're advertising him as a reliever in Charlotte, rather than a starter. Speas possesses tantalizing power, and the White Sox will be the latest team to see if they can get his high-90s cutter in the vicinity of the strike zone. Padilla and Ramsey were part of the Charlotte-to-Chicago caravan last year
Horn and Ellard are the lefties. Horn's on the 40-man roster after the White Sox reacquired him from the Cubs for Matthew Thompson. Ellard made a name for himself -- and appeared on the Sox Machine Podcast -- with his excellent showing in the Arizona Fall League, but he didn't duplicate the results in a small spring sample.
Catchers
Were Max Stassi healthy, Hackenberg would be sharing the catching duties with Korey Lee. As it stands, Hackenberg should be the primary backstop. He emerged as a prospect to follow after hitting .271/.366/.388 with true catcher skills between Birmingham and Charlotte, and now it's a matter of whether he can hit the ball hard enough to scare pitchers into letting his plate discipline stand out.
The White Sox have a surplus of playable catchers in the high minors, so I was curious what kind of opportunity a catcher like Robinson saw in the organization. For now, it's backing up Hackenberg, but we'll see what happens if and when Lee returns to Triple-A.
Infielders
Montgomery is the headliner of the whole roster, which makes it indefensible that I've waited until 17 or so paragraphs to write more than a sentence about him. Like Cannon, he'll open the season in Charlotte without having proved a mastery of Double-A, although his plate discipline should allow him to not look completely overmatched. The bigger question will be whether he'll stick at shortstop, although everybody else in this infield can be moved around to accommodate him.
Pérez shows up as a catcher on the roster, but he's an infielder on the press release, perhaps because he has more first base experience than anybody else here, and somebody needs to catch Montgomery's throws. We know Remillard, Sosa and Mendick as well as they know Charlotte. Sosa's the only one on the 40-man roster, but all should be ready to impress because Braden Shewmake's grip on the utility infielder job is tenuous. Fellow 40-man resident José Rodríguez should be here eventually, but is away from the team for a family matter.
Outfielders
The Knights should be able to roll out a credible outfield left to right, with DeLoach and Colás in the corners most nights. DeLoach pretty much just needs to try cutting down on strikeouts, and then he needs an opportunity for an audition. Colás' to-do list is more vague, in that he just needs to look more polished in all aspects.
Ortega, Payton and Phillips were all NRIs who appeared in Cactus League games for the White Sox, and they'll cover center field in the wake of Yoelqui Céspedes, who was released this week. Bernard joins the fray now after signing with the White Sox back in December. He's 33, and he'll be starting his 12th minor-league season after being drafted by the Padres in the 35th round back in 2012. He's also played two seasons in the Atlantic League and six seasons of winter ball, so no matter how bad it gets for Charlotte, it probably won't be able to show him anything he hasn't already seen.
