One of baseball’s top major league prospects has been promoted to Charlotte Knights

It’s been a while – maybe 25 years – since a big-name baseball prospect such as Eloy Jimenez arrived in Charlotte.

Jimenez, the prize of the Chicago White Sox farm organization and ranked No. 3 among all baseball prospects by MLB Pipeline, was promoted Thursday to the Class AAA Charlotte Knights from AA Birmingham.

He was ripping Southern League pitching, batting .317 with 15 doubles and 10 home runs in 53 games. But the White Sox wanted to see how he would fare in Class AAA, where pitchers mix off-speed stuff with fast balls.

“It will be interesting to see how he responds with guys attacking him a little differently,” White Sox director of player development Chris Getz told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Jimenez, 21, went 0-for-3 Friday night in his Knights debut against Toledo. He improved to 1-for-3 and a walk in Saturday’s game. On Sunday, Jimenez blasted a home run over the center-field wall in the first inning and singled home the winning run in the eighth.

So in three games at the highest level of minor-league ball, Jimenez, a 6-4, 205-pound outfielder, is 3-for-10, with a homer and two RBIs.

There have been other hot-shot prospects who passed through Charlotte and made a big name in the majors:

Eddie Murray: He hit 12 homers and batted .298 in 1976 with the Class AA AA Charlotte O’s before going on to a 21-year career in the majors.

Cal Ripken Jr.: A Hall-of-Famer, Ripken slammed 25 home runs for the O’s in 1980 before heading to the Baltimore Orioles and a 21-year MLB career.

Curt Schilling: He went 5-2 in seven starts with the O’s in 1989. Four years later, he was a key part of the world champion Philadelphia Phillies and later played on World Series winners in Arizona and Boston (twice).

Jim Thome: Another Hall-of-Famer, Thome hit 25 home runs, drove in 106 runs, and batted .332 with the Knights in 1993 before becoming a key part of the Cleveland Indians teams that reached the World Series in 1995 and 1997.

Here’s how the Knights fared during the past week:

Tuesday: Right-handed Donny Roach ran his record to 8-2 as the Knights downed Columbus 6-2. Roach pitched six shutout innings, and outfielder Leury Garcia drove in three runs.

Wednesday: Matt Skole hit a homer and drove in three runs as Charlotte beat Columbus 6-4. Michael Kopech worked five innings, allowing two earned runs and improving his record to 3-5.

Thursday: The Knights and Columbus each had 10 hits, but Charlotte dropped a 4-1 decision. Charlotte’s Eddy Alvarez, Skole and Casey Gillaspie each had two hits.

Friday: Toledo’s Jacob Turner pitched six shutout innings in the Mud Hens’ 4-0 victory. Knights’ reliever Ian Hamilton struck out three in 1.1 innings in his AAA debut.

Saturday: Jordan Stephens struck out nine in six shutout innings, but Toledo got two runs off the Knights’ bullpen and beat Charlotte 2-1.

Sunday: Chicago White Sox pitcher Miguel Gonzalez started for Charlotte, making his first appearance in recovery from rotator cuff soreness. He went three innings in the Knights’ 5-4 victory, with Jimenez’s RBI single in the eighth making a winner of reliever Gregory Infante.

Week ahead: Charlotte visits Durham on Monday (7:05 p.m.), Tuesday (7:05) and Wednesday (1:05 and 7:05 doubleheader), then returns home against Gwinnett for 7:04 p.m. games Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 2:05 p.m. next Sunday.

Steve Lyttle on Twitter: @slyttle

This story was originally published June 24, 2018 at 7:18 PM with the headline "One of baseball’s top major league prospects has been promoted to Charlotte Knights."