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It is appropriate to assess the progress of the team as the Knights reach the quarter pole of their inaugural season. It is safe to say that the Knights are one of them surprise teams in all of baseball as they have managed a winning record so far and sit in 2nd place in the N. L. South, 2 games behind the Cardinals. Although it is way too early to talk about the playoffs, they are also 2nd in the Wild Card standings at the moment, 2 games behind Philadelphia and 2 games ahead of Arizona, who holds the 3rd spot. (By way of comparison, the Portland Mavericks are 14-25, and sit 13 games behind Seattle in the A. L. West.)
How have the Knights done this? They play hard through 27 outs every day, but it is also hard not to conclude that they have had a little bit of luck. Their offense has been better than expected. They are 2nd in the N. L. in batting average, 7th in OBP, 4th in SLG, and 7th in OPS. Their .322 wOBA also ranks 7th. They are among the worst in the league in base running, and their defense is below average. Their -4.7 Zone Rating ranks 13th in the league, although they are 8th overall in defensive efficiency. Pitching wise, Charlotte's 4.80 ERA ranks 14th in the National League (their starters rank 14th at 5.10 and the bullpen ranks 11th at 4.29) and they have allowed 196 runs, which also ranks 14th in the league. All of this is confirmed by the fact that the Knights are playing 4 games above their Pythagorean record of 17-22, which suggests they might expect their record to regress a bit during the remainder of the season.
The back end of the bullpen (Crawford, Alcala, Castro, Puk) have been the real strength of the team so far. Charlotte is 19-5 when leading or tied after 6 innings. They are 7-4 in 1-run games and 2-0 in extra-inning games.
Can this collection of utility infielders, 4th outfielders, and journeyman pitchers keep this up? The next month will go a long way in showing whether they can or not.
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