Knights baseball digest: What’s at stake as Charlotte takes on Jumbo Shrimp this week

This week could change a lot for the Charlotte Knights’ season.

At 21-31, the Knights are in sixth place — second to last — in the Triple-A East’s Southeast Division, sitting 14.5 games behind the division-leading Durham Bulls and just one ahead of the bottom-feeding Memphis Cardinals. As it stands, they are one of the worst teams in the Triple-A East.

But this week, with a six-game series against the third-place Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, the Knights are in a position to begin a change of fortune.

The Jumbo Shrimp sit 6.5 games out from the division lead, only eight games ahead of the Knights — and from Tuesday to Sunday, the Knights have the chance to chip away at that deficit, one game at a time.

With no Triple-A playoffs this season, the team with the best record will be crowned league champion. Even if the Knights can chip away at the Shrimp, there’s likely no catching the Bulls, who have posted a monstrous plus-111 run differential so far this season — the best in Triple-A.

Knights-Jumbo Shrimp series at a glance

The Knights and the Jumbo Shrimp enter the series on two-game losing streaks, with Charlotte most recently losing 2-1 to the Norfolk Tides in front of a record crowd of 10,969 fans at Truist Field on July 4.

This series will be the Knights’ second against the Jumbo Shrimp this season. Charlotte won the first series in June, three games to two.

The Knights’ bats came alive last time around against the Shrimp, with the team registering eight or more hits in every game of the series. While Jacksonville did the same in all but one of those games, they showed less of an ability to drive in runs, never scoring double-digit runs in a game — a feat the Knights accomplished twice that series, including a 13-7 win in the final game.

This time, the Knights will be without two of their best sluggers.

After making his major-league debut in early June, first baseman Gavin Sheets was recalled to the Chicago White Sox on June 29 in an attempt to ease the pain caused by injuries to White Sox starters Yoan Moncada and Jake Lamb. In Charlotte, Sheets was batting .292, coming in second and third on the team with 33 RBIs and 47 hits, respectively.

On July 3, the Knights took an even bigger hit when the White Sox called up third baseman Jake Burger, arguably the Knights’ best player this year. Burger’s bat was powerful and accurate, batting .322 on the season with 55 hits, 10 home runs and 36 RBIs. His batting average and .964 OPS were good for fifth and sixth in the Triple-A East, respectively, and he was chosen to be one of the White Sox’s players in the MLB All-Star Futures Game.

White Sox prospects to watch this week

Yermín Mercedes, C/DH

While the Knights may have lost their best bat of the season, they received another potentially mercurial slugger in exchange — catcher Yermín Mercedes.

The 28-year-old Mercedes started the season with the White Sox, and was in white-hot form early on, batting .415 with five dingers and 16 RBIs in April. After making headlines for hitting a home run on a 3-0 count in a blowout May win, he entered a hitting slump, batting .150 with just 16 hits in his last 31 games, leading White Sox manager Tony La Russa to send him down to Triple-A.

In his first few games in the Queen City, the man they call “The Yerminator” has been in decent form as a designated hitter, registering two hits in eight plate appearances, both of which came during the July 4 loss to the Tides.

Tim Beckham, IF

Beckham has been one of the Knights’ most consistent sluggers this season, posting a .279 batting average and leading the team with 11 home runs. The real excitement, though, comes from what he can do to the Jumbo Shrimp.

During the June series against Jacksonville, Beckham hit six home runs in four games against the Shrimp from June 15 to June 18, earning him a Triple-A East Player of the Week award.

In the first game of the series, facing LHP Shawn Morimando, Beckham hit two home runs in a 6-4 loss. The next night, he hit two more as the Knights claimed an 11-2 win. He ended the series with six home runs and nine RBIs in five games.

While Beckham’s form has cooled slightly since then — he didn’t even play in the Knights’ last loss to the Tides — his hot form against the Shrimp could be key to some big wins in this week’s series.

Mike Wright, RHP

Mike Wright has been one of the best pitchers in the Triple-A East this season. His 2.77 ERA leads the league, while his .190 batting average against and 58 strikeouts are good for second and fourth in the league, respectively. After going 4-0 with a 2.78 ERA in five starts in June, he was named the Triple-A East Pitcher of the Month.

In the last series against the Shrimp, Wright got the start and the win in a 9-3 victory on June 17. In six innings pitched, gave up five hits, two earned runs and one walk, while also registering six strikeouts. If Wright can keep Jacksonville’s bats as quiet as he did then, his start could mean a big win for the Knights when they really need one.

The series begins Tuesday at 121 Financial Ballpark in Jacksonville with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m.

This story was originally published July 6, 2021 at 1:10 PM.