The 6-foot-1, righthanded-hitting Knizner forced his way onto the scene with a strong 2017 between Class A Peoria and Class AA Springfield. Then came an impressive Arizona Fall League and head-turning spring training that earned him praise as one of the most-improved players in major league camp. The seventh-round draft pick out of North Carolina State hit .313/.368/.430 with seven home runs, 18 doubles and a bunch of hard-hit line drives in 94 games between Class AA and Class AAA last season. Consider this: major league catchers combined to average a batting line of .233/.304/.374 in 2018.

“He’s hit everywhere he’s been, and he’s getting better and better as a catcher,” general manager Michael Girsch said. “In some ways, Carson was always seen as a conversion to catcher, because we drafted him as a third baseman, and played him there a year at third base. Knizner got converted from an infielder to a catcher at the same point in his career. It just happened to be at North Carolina State instead of with us. So, everyone thinks of him as always having been a catcher, but he’s still learning, and he’s still working hard at it, and he knows the importance of it. But he’s got a knack for squaring balls up. He’s hit .300 everywhere he goes.”