Players

D’Shawn Knowles returns for his second season with Sioux City after joining the club in early August of 2024 for the stretch run to the playoffs. The native of New Providence, Bahamas, spent six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim organization, reaching AAA in 2024. He also has experience on the international stage as a member of Team Great Britain during the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Knowles got off to a solid start in Sioux City in 2024, beginning his time with the X’s on a three-game hitting streak and hitting safely in 10 of his first 13 games. He had back-to-back two hit games on August 13 and 14 in two games against Kane County as part of his hot early start.

For the season, Knowles hit .261 in 23 games with one home run and 13 RBI. His lone long ball will live forever in Explorers history and became a defining moment of the 2024 season. On August 19 Sioux City came home to face the defending Mile Wolff Cup champions, the Kansas City Monarchs in a pivotal five-game series. The X’s were rolling 8-2 into the top of the seventh. The Monarchs, however, rallied for 11 runs to take a 13-8 lead. The Explorers would come back in the eighth, scoring eight runs to take the lead back. Knowles would launch the go-ahead grand slam to complete the Sioux City comeback on the way to a 16-13 win. The Explorers would go on to sweep Kansas City in the five-game series. Knowles finished the game 3-for-5 with a double and homer and scored three runs in his four-RBI performance.

Knowles patrolled center field for Sioux City and added five stolen bases in his short time with the club. He also added seven multi-hit games during his 23 games to go along with six doubles, scoring 17 runs to close out the year. Knowles added his second three-hit game on August 25 at Lincoln with a double, scoring two runs in that 10-6 win at Lincoln.

Prior to his arrival in Sioux City, Knowles played in 35 games at Triple-A Salt Lake City for the Angels organization. He hit .202 with one home run and 14 RBI in the first part of 2014. He went 6-for-19 in a short rehab stint with the Angels rookie complex club to finish the season .223 combined in the “halos” system. In 2023, Knowles split time between the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas and High-A Tri-City Dust Devils. He was promoted to Double-A in mid-August, ending his time with the Dust Devils on a 10-game hit streak where he batted .421 with a 1.004 OPS.

The switch-hitter also split time between two levels in 2022, starting with the class A Inland Empire 66ers before playing with High-A Tri-City in the Northwest League. Over the season, he batted .329 with an .878 OPS at Inland Empire, needing just 38 games to earn promotion to the next level. Before his advancement, Knowles ended his stint with the 66ers on an 18-game stretch where he batted .379 with a 1.045 OPS including 10 extra-base hits. After promotion, it took a little while for him to get adjusted, but by the end of the season, he was once again swinging a hot bat. Over the final 29 games of the season, Knowles had a .307 batting average with 23 runs and 11 RBI while getting on base at a .385 clip. He would hit .234 for the season at Tri-City in 84 games with one homerun and 26 RBI. Knowles would score 44 runs good for fourth on the club and slash a line of .234/.307/.287. He would hit .262 combined at both stops with 22 stolen bases.

In 2021 Knowles spent the whole year at class A Inland Empire. He would produce a slash line of .227/.280/.355 while leading the team with 31 stolen bases. Knowles would finish second on the team in runs scored (61) third in hits (82), second in doubles (21) and second in RBI (48). He would club five home runs and five triples, good for second on the team. He was also ranked the eighth best prospect in the Angels organization during the year. For the 66ers, Knowles batted .227 with a .635 OPS through the season, hitting five homers while scoring 61 runs and knocking in 48. He had five three-hit games in the year, including one near the end of the season Sept. 4 against the Modesto Nuts where he went 4-5 with a homer, double and five RBI.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Knowles played in rookie ball during the 2019 season, batting .241 with a .698 OPS over 64 games. He finished the season with 18 games where he hit .267 with an .817 OPS and three home runs. The outfielder’s first test of professional baseball came the year before when he started the season with the AZL Angels, batting .301 over 30 games, before moving to the Orem Owlz, posting a .321 average with a .949 OPS in 28 games.

Knowles climbed the ladder of the Angels system in 2018, beginning at the rookie level but reaching AAA in 2024. In his seven-year career, the 24-year-old has played 521 games in the minor and partner leagues combined with a .253 average with 24 career home runs, 224 RBI and 108 stolen bases. In the 2023 World Baseball Classic Knowles had a pinch-hit triple for Great Britain in the seventh inning off Team USA and Colorado Rockies reliever Kyle Freeland on March 11 at Chase Field in Phoenix in a 6-2 loss. He had another pinch hit and a double in an 18-8 loss to Team Canada on March 12.

Knowles’ twin brother D’Vaughn Knowles played parts of three seasons with the New York Yankees organization. Knowles grew up in Nassau in the Bahamas but makes his home in Lake Worth, Florida.