Season Recap: Charlotte Knights
With the White Sox breaking the record for the most losses in a season in modern day history, there haven’t been many positives in Chicago. However, in the minor leagues, there have been a lot of significant developments that White Sox fans can get excited about. We take a look at how the triple-A affiliate of the White Sox, the Charlotte Knights, did this season.
Overall, the Knights didn’t have a great season, as they were 33-41 in the first half, good for last place in their division. They were better in the second half, as they were 35-38, but not much better. Overall they finished 68-79, which landed them at eight place in their division, out of ten teams.
There weren’t too many performances to write home about in Charlotte, which was part of the reason for the poor record.
Colson Montgomery lead the team in homeruns and RBIs, as he hit 18 homers and had 63 RBIs. He also led the team with 69 walks.
While those are some pretty solid numbers for Montgomery, the rest of his stats are pretty disappointing, especially coming from someone who opened up the season as a top-15 prospect in all of baseball. Overall, Montgomery hit just .214 with a .329 OBP. That’s not great for your top hitting prospect, so hopefully he can fix that in the offseason, as despite this season, he likely will open up the season as the starting shortstop in Chicago.
Tim Elko also had a pretty good season in AAA after he earned himself a promotion, as he hit nine homeruns in 48 games with the Knights.
Elko also added 33 RBIs and hit .289 with a .361 OBP. He also had a very solid .472 slugging percentage and a .833 OPS. He should get a chance to play in Chicago next season, as he will turn 26 in the offseason.
On the pitching side, there were some very solid performances out of the Knights bullpen.
Adisyn Coffey had a great year in Birmingham, which lead to a promotion to AAA. In 35 games in Charlotte, he had a 2.04 ERA with 40 strikeouts in just 35 innings. Hitters only hit .200 off him, which is a very solid number. He should get a chance to make the White Sox out of Spring Training.
Trey McGough was also a bullpen standout, as he was acquired in the Eloy trade. In 27.1 innings for the Charlotte Knights, he has a very good 1.98 ERA. He had 33 strikeouts in those innings, good for a solid K/9. He showed good command as he has walked just eight batters in that same timeframe.
McGough may prove to be a valuable bullpen piece for the White Sox, as he is likely to be with the team in 2025. I was surprised that he wasn’t a September call up, however, he will have a good chance to make the team out of Spring Training next season.
Overall, this wasn’t a great season for the Knights, but with a lot of prospects in the upper minors, they could be much more exciting next year.