Samuel Beckett, Transcendentalist News

Tempe, AZ – It is almost June, and don’t look now but the Knights are in it, being five games up for the last wild card spot.  The Knights have a respectable record of 29-20 and look like they are for real.  Of course bolstering the staff is the phenom Markus Hancock.  Hancock is 7-1 and looks like he is well on his way to wining another Golden Arm award.  The Knights will go only as far as Hancock will carry them, and with Markus on top of his game the Knights feel that they can beat anyone and win a championship.  This seems like a far-fetched idea considering that in their inaugural year the Knights lost 117 games.  However, the silver lining with that level of losing is that it brought the savior (Hancock) to the Knights, and GM Chris Van Hauter stated recently that, “Whatever Markus wants, Markus gets, and we will go to any lengths to ensure that he stays a Knight forever.”

Of course no phenom would be complete without a supporting actor behind him, and the Knights feel that they have that in Barney Sharp, who is 5-3 this year and looks like he is finally putting it all together.  With Sharp and Hancock, Van Hauter feels that the Knights have a 1-2 punch the like of Koufax–Drysdale, Seaver–Koosman and Schilling–Johnson.  If Sharp is the real deal – and this reporter thinks he is – then in a short series the Knights will be tough to beat.

Sharp and Hancock may be getting all the headlines, but there is one pitcher who may be the most underrated starter in the entire league, and that person is Chet Collins.  Don’t let Collins career record of 40-51 fool you.  Throughout his whole career, he has been the victim of nonsupport.  This reporter cannot count the times he has been on the losing end of 1-0 and 2-1 games.  This year Collins is off to his best start at 5-2, and he gives the Knights three solid starters – which, once again, is all you need in a short series.  Collins has been with the Knights since their inception, and while Hancock may be the face of the Knights, Collins is its heart.

When Chris Van Hauter took over the Knights, he stated publicly that the Knights were on a five-year plan to make the playoffs.  He warned fans that they were going to see some rough baseball for a few years while their players develop, but around the 4^th year the Knights should start to turn the corner, with the 5^th year being when the Knights reach the playoffs.  Well, so far, so good, as last year the Knights surprised everyone by going 84-78 and were in the thick of it as late as the middle of September.  This year the Knights are off to their best start at 29-20 and look like they can last in the pennant race.

The reasons for this are threefold.  First, the Knights are not striking out as much.  Last year the Knights batters cooled down the desert by fanning over 1,000 times.  This year the Knights have almost halved that.  Second, the Knights have drastically improved their OBP.  Throughout their existence, the Knights have always struck out too much and not reached base enough.  However, this year the Knights have reversed that trend by getting on base at a .370 clip.  With professional hitters like Carlos Mastos, Orlando García, and Ángel Zarate, the Knights now make a pitcher work, and their patience has been rewarded by getting off to a fast start.  Third, the emergence of Barney Sharp.  Last year Sharp looked good and dreadful, with no in-betweens.  Sharp would look like he turned the corner, then he would look like he forgot how to get the ball over the plate.  This year Sharp, while still being wild at times, has finally begun to trust his stuff and looks like he has acquired the mark of a great pitcher that is able to win when he does not have his good stuff.  Sharp looks more and more confident each start, and he is a big reason why the Knights are not looking at their position in the draft.

Just how far can the Knights go this year?  Van Hauter is staying silent on that one, saying only, “It is a long season and anything can happen.”  But this reporter believes the Knights will get better as the year goes along because there is too much talent not to keep improving.  What is more. the Knights have been doing it with two of their best relievers, Juan Montés and Lorenzo Álvarez, out for 8 and 3 months. respectively.  The Knights will have both of them back for the stretch run. and they can only strengthen Tempe’s chances.