Last season the Charlotte Knights finished dead last in the International League South Division. Their record of 67-76 was enough to beat out Pawtucket, Buffalo and Columbus to avoid being in the I.L. basement.
Other than new Assistant GM Danny Tetzlaff, here are some players who might make it to Coca Cola Park with the Knights and would be worth watching.
Tyler Flowers, C – We’re going to have some fun with him although he might not hear us from behind the plate. If only he was a center fielder…
Dan Hudson, RHP – Considered Chicago’s 3rd best prospect he played 5 games in AAA last season to go with 6 games with the White Sox in the show.
Jordan Danks, OF – Should start the season at AA but looks to be in Charlotte mid-season if not earlier.
Clevelan Santeliz, RHP – Fastball can reach as high as 95-96 mph. Figures to begin at Charlotte to work on developing other pitches.
I only have good memories of Charlotte visiting Coca Cola park. Let’s keep this going in 2010!
2009 Pitching Statistics Player W L ERA G GS CG SV IP H R ER HR BB SO Wes Whisler 10 12 4.01 26 26 1 0 152.2 165 83 68 10 56 77 Carlos Torres 10 4 2.39 23 20 2 1 128.0 96 38 34 4 56 130 Jack Egbert 6 11 5.05 30 18 0 1 108.2 132 73 61 13 33 78 Kelvin Jimenez 6 3 4.02 40 4 0 1 78.1 97 40 35 11 20 55 John Van Benschoten 2 8 6.35 22 13 0 0 78.0 97 66 55 9 30 67 Justin Cassel 3 9 5.06 18 12 0 0 74.2 86 47 42 10 27 53 Lucas Harrell 4 1 3.29 11 11 0 0 65.2 58 26 24 3 37 42 Ehren Wassermann 7 3 3.68 43 0 0 1 63.2 72 30 26 3 18 57 Derek Rodriguez 0 3 3.49 36 1 0 2 56.2 56 24 22 3 23 44 Jon Link 1 2 3.99 48 0 0 13 56.1 55 26 25 5 27 66 Adam Russell 2 2 3.20 34 0 0 5 56.1 39 20 20 5 18 51 Jeff Marquez 2 8 9.85 11 11 0 0 45.2 72 51 50 12 22 27 Randy Williams 3 0 3.44 33 0 0 1 36.2 31 17 14 3 11 40 Jose Contreras 3 1 2.70 5 5 1 0 33.1 19 12 10 2 16 27 Jhonny Nunez 2 0 3.33 16 0 0 1 24.1 19 9 9 3 5 22 Dan Hudson 2 0 3.00 5 5 0 0 24.0 22 10 8 1 9 24 Fernando Hernandez 1 1 1.59 13 0 0 0 17.0 11 4 3 0 8 17 Lance Broadway 0 2 5.63 3 3 0 0 16.0 18 11 10 2 4 15 Matt Zaleski 0 1 2.25 3 3 0 0 16.0 13 4 4 2 3 15 Jake Peavy 1 1 2.93 4 4 0 0 15.1 14 6 5 1 4 17 Jimmy Gobble 0 1 5.25 11 0 0 1 12.0 8 8 7 2 4 19 Bartolo Colon 1 1 3.75 2 2 0 0 12.0 10 5 5 2 4 1 Aaron Poreda 0 0 3.60 2 2 0 0 10.0 8 4 4 0 3 9 Brandon Hynick 1 0 1.29 1 1 0 0 7.0 4 1 1 0 2 2 Freddy Garcia 0 1 3.00 1 1 0 0 6.0 8 2 2 1 0 9 Brian Omogrosso 0 0 15.88 4 0 0 0 5.2 12 10 10 2 3 6 Sergio Santos 0 1 9.00 3 0 0 0 5.0 5 5 5 0 7 7 Matt Long 0 0 5.40 1 1 0 0 5.0 7 3 3 0 1 6 Mike Johnston 0 0 0.00 5 0 0 0 4.2 5 0 0 0 2 1 Ryan Rote 0 0 1.93 3 0 0 0 4.2 3 2 1 0 5 4 Taylor Thompson 0 0 0.00 2 0 0 0 4.0 2 0 0 0 4 1 Kevin Asselin 0 0 12.00 2 0 0 0 3.0 3 4 4 1 2 4 Brent DeFoor 0 0 6.75 2 0 0 0 2.2 2 2 2 0 2 4 Danny Wiltz 0 0 162.00 1 0 0 0 0.1 6 6 6 1 3 1
2009 Batting Statistics Player AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB Lee Fischer .500 1 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 Gordon Beckham .464 7 28 6 13 6 0 0 3 0 2 1 Jayson Nix .450 5 20 4 9 1 0 0 5 4 0 1 Carlos Quentin .378 12 37 10 14 3 0 1 9 5 2 0 Dewayne Wise .333 7 27 2 9 3 1 0 3 1 4 0 Norris Hopper .329 20 76 12 25 3 0 0 5 7 4 3 Justin Fuller .308 5 13 1 4 0 0 0 1 3 4 1 Andy Phillips .295 49 190 24 56 9 1 5 27 15 26 1 Michael Restovich .290 135 489 83 142 36 3 21 61 58 118 0 Tyler Flowers .286 31 105 13 30 10 0 2 13 10 32 0 Brian Anderson .279 11 43 6 12 1 1 2 5 2 16 0 Miguel Negron .279 103 384 41 107 15 3 4 38 26 62 14 Brian Myrow .277 48 159 23 44 10 0 7 25 22 37 0 Josh Kroeger .267 128 501 59 134 27 0 17 56 36 86 23 Chris Getz .267 5 15 4 4 0 0 0 0 3 1 2 Stefan Gartrell .265 31 113 14 30 11 1 4 19 7 29 0 Josh Fields .265 27 98 15 26 5 0 5 13 13 22 1 Brandon Allen .262 15 61 6 16 4 0 1 8 0 13 0 Javier Castillo .262 47 168 16 44 11 2 2 15 13 40 0 Scott Podsednik .262 10 42 6 11 4 0 0 2 5 5 1 Keith Ginter .262 107 363 35 95 22 1 6 33 39 71 2 Daryle Ward .255 69 247 31 63 11 0 8 36 31 49 2 Cole Armstrong .252 69 246 28 62 13 0 10 32 12 51 0 Brent Lillibridge .252 67 246 34 62 9 4 3 24 29 57 17 Wilson Betemit .241 72 261 36 63 19 0 11 49 21 73 2 Eider Torres .240 92 359 36 86 12 1 1 29 24 63 13 Gookie Dawkins .229 20 70 6 16 6 0 0 1 2 17 2 Justin Knoedler .222 8 27 3 6 0 0 1 1 0 7 0 Donny Lucy .216 45 153 14 33 8 0 2 10 10 38 2 Andy Cannizaro .208 22 77 5 16 3 0 0 4 5 11 0 David Cook .192 7 26 2 5 0 0 1 2 1 9 0 Miguel Gonzalez .182 3 11 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 Jose Fulgencio .174 7 23 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 Kent Gerst .148 8 27 1 4 0 0 1 4 2 9 1 Corky Miller .143 4 7 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 Jerry Owens .143 2 7 1 1 0 0 0 2 1 3 0 Ben Broussard .130 7 23 0 3 0 0 0 2 3 5 1 Brady Shoemaker .103 8 29 3 3 1 0 1 2 1 8 0
noisenation.mlblogs.com 
One of my favorite things about going to games at CCP is seeing the top prospects from other organizations. Last year we were fortunate to catch a glimpse of Tommy Hanson with Gwinnett just 2 weeks before his promotion to the big leagues. Unfortunately he left a lasting impression on the Ironpigs by breaking Cervenak’s wrist. This year Charlotte comes to town the first week of June. If we’re lucky, Dan Hudson will still be with them. This guy is on the fast track to the majors. He jumped 5 levels in 2009 so if Freddy Garcia struggles this spring Hudson could start the year in Chicago.
Tyler Flowers first got my attention in the 2008 Arizona Fall League while still in the Atlanta organization. I was following Donald & Marson and Flowers seemed like he was hitting a homerun every other game. He was traded to the White Sox prior to the 2009 season as part of the Javier Vazquez deal. His biggest problem seems to be his mechanics behind the plate but he’ll hit plenty of homers.
I concur regarding the good memories when Charlotte comes to town, especially with classy former big league stars like Chris Chambliss, Rich Dotson and Gary Ward as their manager and coaches. Who can forget the walkoff homerun Chambliss hit in the ’76 ALCS to get the Yankees in the World Series for the first time in 12 years?