Who are Charlotte Knights’ top prospects? What else to know before baseball begins
Baseball season in Charlotte can be utterly blissful: with the game day food, the in-game promotions, the postgame fireworks, the forest of skyscrapers encasing one of the best Triple-A ballparks in America.
But ask new Charlotte Knights manager Chad Pinder what will make 2026 successful, and he’ll provide a different answer.
Something that’s equally exciting for baseball fans:
Turning the talent in his dugout into major league ball players.
“Getting as many people to the big leagues as possible,” Pinder said on Wednesday, two days before the Knights begin their season at home against the Durham Bulls. “For stuff that they do here, obviously you never want to see things go wrong at the major league level. You never want to see injuries. But if the guys are pushing the envelope and making them make decisions, that’s a success.”
The Knights, the AAA affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, have a lot of talent capable of playing at the next level, Pinder said. In fact, according to the minor league prospect rankings on MLB.com, two of the Top 100 prospects are on the Knights. Those two are both left-handed pitchers: Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith.
Pinder, a former veteran player himself, is excited about both prospects, he said. Smith will be the opening-day pitcher, with Schultz getting his first start in the team’s second series.
“There are players here that may have fantastic years that may not debut with the White Sox but maybe debut with another team,” Pinder said. “But ultimately, making an environment for these guys where they’re able to go out and play free ... that will (follow) them to the big leagues.”
To say that the White Sox weren’t afraid to call Knights players up to the big leagues last year would be an understatement. In fact, ahead of Chicago’s home opener, there are a slew of players who started their 2025s in Charlotte.
A sampling of those players: Chase Meidroth (2B), Colson Montgomery (SS) and Edgar Quero (C). Catcher Kyle Teel might’ve made the list, too, if it wasn’t for a Grade 2 right hamstring strain he sustained during Team Italy’s win over USA in the World Baseball Classic on March 10.
Pinder would understand if something similar happens again in 2026.
“The vast majority of our team, they were in major league camp,” Pinder said. “And they were in major league camp for a long time this year, contributing throughout. The vast majority of them had an incredible spring.
“I think every single one of them sees the opportunity here in the organization, and you’d be kind of silly not to see it. So yeah, you definitely see the hunger and the drive to put that extra work in and just to contribute to a team in Chicago.”
Here’s more to know ahead of baseball season in the Queen City.
More on the Knights’ new manager, Chad Pinder
Pinder, 33, is the Knights’ fourth manager since 2022. Previous to him was Wes Helms (2020-22), followed by Justin Jirschele (2023-24) and Sergio Santos (2025). The newest team skipper had an 11-year pro ball career; specifically, 553 games across seven major league seasons. He was a utility player — in other words played infield and outfield — and was drafted by the Athletics in 2013 out of Virginia Tech.
He’s most recently coming from the Single-A Kannapolis Cannon Ballers with a reputation that precedes him as a youthful player’s coach.
New food options at the Charlotte ballpark
Charlotte Knights executive chef Jamerius Sims is a creative mastermind. And on Wednesday, he showcased the new food options the Knights will be serving all summer long. Those options:
- The “980” porkchop biscuit
- The “704” kids’ meal (corn dogs and fries)
- Rib tips, jalapeño cornbread
- Smoked wings with kale slaw
- Garlic chicken sliders
- Rib sandwich (with a pickle!)
- Sweet potato funnel cake fries
- Assorted donuts
- “Homer’s family feast” — 10 pounds of curly fries and meat and garnishes and glory
Mark your calendars for the following promotion nights
The Charlotte Knights have a schedule replete with promotions, as they do every year. Here are the ones through March and April. Check the team website for more promotions throughout the season.
- Opening Day, March 27: Friday Knight fireworks, rally towel giveaway, fan fest (5 p.m. to 7 p.m.).
- March 28: Postgame drone show
- March 29: Everyone runs the bases (not just the kids!)
- April 8: Bark in the ballpark (bring your dogs!)
- April 9: College night & hungry games, Thirsty Thursday ($5 drink specials).
- April 10: Friday Knight fireworks, HBCU tribute. (Visit the Negro Leagues tribute museum on the concourse, watch the team take the field in Black Hornets jerseys and enjoy performances by the Divine Nine, International Institution of Sound and the Luv-a-Bulls.)
- April 12: Congregations for kids day (another name for ... everyone running the bases).
- April 21: Education day (local students watch ... and scream ... at 11:05 a.m.).
- April 22: Bark in the ballpark
- April 23: Pregame entertainment from Bryce Hensley, Thirsty Thursday
- April 24: Friday Knight fireworks, youth sports night (pregame parade with Little League teams).
- April 25: Gender reveal night. (Per the website: “Take the field before the game with pregame catch, then celebrate special moments as gender reveals happen throughout the night.”)
- April 26: Youth watch giveaway (first 1,000 kids through the gates get a free watch).
Banana Ball coming to Truist Field in Charlotte
Truist Field will host more than just Charlotte Knights games this summer.
The other events:
- ACC Baseball Championship: May 19-24.
- Banana Ball: Remember how the Savannah Bananas invaded uptown last year? Well, two other teams in the same league, the Firefighters and the Texas Tailgaters, will be doing so again, this time at Truist Field from June 4-6.
- Cosmic Takeover Tour: Another baseball-adjacent spectacle, this game is described as “part baseball, part neon-fueled party” ... in which the game is played under black lights. Sept. 4-5.
This story was originally published March 26, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
