Jonathan Cannon Gives White Sox A Pitcher With An Edge
With Lucas Giolito and Lance Lynn traded before the Aug. 1 deadline, Dylan Cease and Michael Kopech are the only two White Sox starters who have spots locked up for the 2024 season.
Plenty of young arms in the minor leagues will get long looks in spring training and beyond, and 23-year-old righthander Jonathan Cannon is definitely in the mix.
Even after a stellar junior season at Georgia, the 6-foot-6 righthander was still on the board when Chicago’s pick came up in the third round of the 2022 draft.
Cannon was obviously motivated by the snub.
“He had been through some bumps in the road with his career, but if you told Jonathan Cannon he was going to be a third-rounder?” White Sox scouting director Mike Shirley said. “It kind of (bleeped) him off. I do think that gave him a little bit of edge.”
Cannon has certainly been sharp in his first full professional season. He earned the organization’s lone invite this year to the Futures Game, where he pitched a scoreless inning.
“Jonathan’s had a very good year,” White Sox assistant general manager/farm director Chris Getz said. “He’s a guy who can attack north, south, east, west. He pounds the zone. He pitches to contact, goes deep into games. He competes, clearly.”
Cannon opened the season at High-A Winston-Salem. After recording a 3.84 ERA in 14 starts, he went to the Futures Game and was promoted to Double-A Birmingham.
A rocky first four starts with the Barons did not concern Chicago.
Carrying 213 pounds on his tall frame, Cannon doesn’t have a prototype power repertoire. He’s had big success with a cutter, sinker and changeup.
“We’ve been impressed on the whole,” Getz said. “He’s got an attack plan both for righties and lefties. You may look at Cristian Mena’s strikeout-to-walk ratio and compare that to Jonathan Cannon. It’s a different profile.
“Jonathan attacks hitters differently and we’ve been really happy with his progress so far.”
