Four Ex-Knights Start 2011 Season in Major Leagues.

White Sox Name Brent Morel Starter at Third Base

Four former Aloha/Corvallis Knights will begin the 2011 season in major-league baseball.

Highlighting that foursome is Chicago White Sox third baseman Brent Morel (pictured playing for the Knights in 2006), the first Corvallis Knight to make the big leagues and the No. 3 rated third base prospect in MLB. We intervAfter impressing the team during a September, 2010 callup, he had a strong spring training and was named the starter last week.

"Of course [Morel] will make the team, and I think he's going to play every day at third base," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen told MLB.Com before a March 24 game against the Chicago Cubs.

Morel is an outstanding fielder, and has shown he can compete at the plate. He hit .231, with three homers and seven RBIs in 21 games last September, and was hitting .313 (20-64), with five RBIs, in 18 games entering the final week of spring training.

He closed spring training on a tear. After going 0-for-4 on March 10, he was 3-for-21 (.143), but since then he's hit .395 (17-43).

"I was trying a little bit too hard," Morel told the Chicago Tribune. "I was in a battle. I was trying to impress them a little too much instead of relaxing and playing my game.

"They told me, 'Don't try to do too much. We know how you are. We know how you can play and what you can do. Relax and remember that and don't do too much.' That seemed to help."

Morel hasn't hit for power - he has four extra-base hits - but he's made consistent contact and has just five strikeouts.

"I really don't get too upset when I strike out or get happy when I don't," Morel said. "I don't look at it too much, but I've been having good at-bats lately and hope to carry it over."

White Sox hitting instructor Greg Walker told the Tribune that it was a "great sign" to see Morel rebound from adversity.

"He's got a long season in front of him, but I love where Mo is at," Walker said. "I've said all along the thing that Mo has going for him besides talent is his mindset. He's got a very good disposition for baseball. He's not a really excitable kid. He's not up and down.

"He will be hitting ninth for us on a good offensive team, so there won't be an abnormal amount of pressure. We're not asking him to hit leadoff, fourth or fifth for us, so that's an advantage. He has a lot of things going his way, so I think he's going to survive and will be good."

The White Sox open the season at Cleveland on Friday. Guillen said he'll use veteran backup Mark Teahen occasionally to prevent Morel from being overmatched early.

"Morel can do a lot of stuff," Guillen said. "I think Morel since he got here, he impressed a lot of people. It's another thing, he's a kid. We have to be patient with him. We have to make sure we protect him. But that's a different type of animal."

Toronto pitcher Marc Rzepczynski (2006) of the Toronto Blue Jays was 1-0, 3.77 in eight games in spring training after going 4-4, 4.95 in 14 games in an injury-plagued 2010 season. He finished 2010 in the starting rotation but has been moved to the bullpen, where he's adjusted well.

"I'm throwing strikes for the most part, pitching backward (throwing breaking balls in fastball counts), just trying to go after them from pitch one," Rzepczynski told the Toronto Sun newspaper.

Toronto manager John Farrell told the National Post that Rzepczynski is the closest thing the Jays have to the departed Scott Downs. He was the team's top lefty reliever for six years before signing with the Los Angeles Angels in the offseason.

Rzepczynski also could be more than a situational lefty. He was 3-1. 2.86 in his final four starts of 2010, and can get right-handed hitters out.

"I think that [expanded] role is going to [come] later and later into the game as we get into the start of the season," Farrell said. "He's got that kind of stuff. He's got that kind of slider that he can attack the best left-handers the American League has to offer.

"When you've got the ability to sink a fastball in the low 90s and an above-average breaking ball, he has stuff similar to what Scott [Downs] has. He has the ability to do that.

"Scott did it for a long period of time. But if we're to point to someone in our camp that has that ability, it's Marc."

Others with Knights connections who should start the season in the majors are:

- Pitcher Tommy Hanson (2005), penciled in as the third starter for the Atlanta Braves. He was 10-11, 3.33 in 2010, his first full season in the majors, and is 2-0, 1.29 in four spring training starts after battling some back issues.

- Pitcher Bud Norris (2005) of the Houston Astros. He gave up six earned runs in five-plus innings on Monday in his final spring-training start and broke camp with a 1-3 record and a 7.71 ERA.

"He was strong and sometimes too strong," Astros manager Brad Mills said of Norris. "There were some pitches around the zone early that he didn't get, but pitching behind in the count really hurt him."

Norris is still projected as the No. 4 starter. He was 9-10, 4.92 in 27 games with the Astros in 2010.

Other ex-big leaguers with ties to the Knights will start the season in the minors. Here's a rundown:

- Infielder Bobby Scales (1997), who has had several cups of coffee with the Cubs over the past two seasons, was sent to triple-A Iowa despite a strong spring training (.375, 1.042 OPS).

- Catcher Chris Stewart (2001), who has played in the bigs for Texas, San Diego, the White Sox and New York Yankees, was sent to triple-A Fresno by the Giants. He hit .308 this spring, with three RBIs in 18 games.

And infielder Robby Hudson, who finished 2010 at Triple-A Charlotte in the White Sox system, was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies organization this week and should be assigned to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. The Phillies need depth at second base, with starter Chase Utley out for an undetermined period.

The Knights also had numerous players in the lower levels of the minors in 2010. Most will not receive their 2011 minor-league assignments until after spring training concludes later this week.

Alums with shots at making the big leagues this season include the aforementioned Scales, Stewart and Hudson, but also Kevin Gunderson (2004) of Texas, Matt Hague (2005) of Pittsburgh and Daniel Turpen (2005) of Colorado.