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Sports - Charlotte Knights

Published: Wednesday, Aug. 01, 2012 / Updated: Wednesday, Aug. 01, 2012 12:43 PM

With call-ups to the Chicago White Sox, the Charlotte Knights’ roster is in flux

- mbanks@comporium.net

FORT MILL -- 

The Charlotte Knights have several players moved around this week from place to place.

Most recently, the Chicago White Sox purchased the contract of Charlotte infielder Ray Olmedo, who was hitting .273 with 19 RBIs and nine stolen bases in 80 games for the Knights this season.

Olmedo, 31, is now the 12th Charlotte Knights player this season to go from Charlotte to Chicago. He joins 10 pitchers (RHPs Dylan Axelrod, Brian Bruney, Deunte Heath, Brian Omogrosso, Jhan Carlos Marinez, and LHPs Pedro Hernandez, Jose Quintana, Eric Stults, Leyson Septimo and Donnie Veal) and outfielder Jordan Danks, who have all received promotions to the Majors this season.

A native of Maracay, Venezuela, Olmedo was signed by the White Sox last November and was a non-roster invitee to White Sox camp this spring.

The 5’-11” switch-hitting infielder last played in the majors with Toronto in 2007 and appeared in 27 games for the Blue Jays that season.

Also, southpaw Pedro Hernandez was traded Sunday to the Minnesota Twins organization and right-handed pitcher Dylan Axelrod was put on the disabled list.

Pitcher Simon Castro was also put on the disabled list this week and pitcher Scott Carroll was promoted from Birmingham.

White Sox third baseman Brent Morel began a Major League rehab assignment with the Charlotte Knights this week. Most recently, Morel appeared in seven games for Single-A Winston-Salem during his rehab assignment.

The California native appeared in 10 games with the Knights earlier this season on a rehab assignment and hit .258 with a double and five runs scored. With the White Sox this season, he was hitting .177 before being placed on the disabled list back on May 22.

Morel hit .245 with 10 home runs and 41 RBIs for the White Sox in 126 games last season. He entered the 2011 season ranked by Baseball America as the second-best prospect in the White Sox system.

In 2010, Morel hit .326 for Double-A Birmingham and was promoted to Charlotte later that year. He hit .320 with eight home runs and 34 RBIs for the Knights in 81 games. He made his Major League debut last September as a pinch-hitter for the White Sox. Three days later, Morel collected his first career Major League hit – a home run off of Kansas City pitcher Bruce Chen.

Jared Mitchell, the White Sox first round pick of the 2009 First-Year player draft, was promoted to the Knights from Double-A Birmingham. Catcher Damaso Espino was also promoted to the Knights from Birmingham.

Mitchell, 23, was leading the Southern League in triples with 12 at the time of the promotion. For the season, he was hitting .240 with 10 home runs and 54 RBIs for the Barons. His 54 RBIs are tied for fifth-best in the Southern League. A product of LSU, Mitchell entered the 2012 season ranked by Baseball America as the Best Athlete in the White Sox organization.

Espino, 29, was hitting .281 with 22 RBIs on the season for the Barons. The Panama native was a non-roster invitee to White Sox camp this spring. He hit .292 last season in 65 games for Triple-A Albuquerque.

Mitchell and Espino will take the roster spots of outfielder Justin Greene and relief pitcher Dan Remenowsky, who were both transferred to Birmingham today. Greene hit .238 with four home runs and 21 RBIs in 52 games with the Knights. Remenowsky was 2-1 with a 4.50 ERA in nine games with Charlotte this season.

Knights’ slugger Dallas McPherson was named as the International League’s Player of the Week for the period from July 16-22. McPherson hit .433 with a league best four home runs and 13 RBIs last week for the Knights. He also finished the week second with nine runs scored and 13 hits.

For the season, McPherson is hitting .260 with 12 home runs and 47 RBIs. He became the third Knights player to earn the weekly award this season, following pitchers Charlie Shirek (April 16-22) and Terry Doyle (May 28-June 3).

In recent game action, Morel dropped a base hit over the drawn-in infield into shallow right-field with one out in the ninth inning to score Tyler Kuhn and the Charlotte Knights recorded their ninth walk-off win of the season with a 3-2 victory over the Gwinnett Braves at Knights Stadium on Sunday.

Former Clemson Tiger Daniel Moskos (2-2, 3.18) pitched the final 1.1 innings for his second win of the season.

The Knights, 62-48 going into Monday’s series finale with the Braves, have a day off Wednesday and then hit the road for Louisville and Indiana before returning home Aug. 10 to begin a series against Norfolk.

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