The Chicago White Sox have a nice group of young pitching prospects, led by their top two left-handers, Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith.
A few of those prospects are already in the big leagues, like Sean Burke, who is getting the nod to start on Opening Day, and Jonathan Cannon, who will be a part of the White Sox rotation for this season.
Cannon, along with Burke, debuted last season, and Cannon put up respectable numbers in his first season. Cannon will look to improve this year.
Cannons is struggling this spring.
Entering his second season, the 24-year-old Cannon has made four starts with a 10.32 ERA in 11.1 innings.
Cannon got knocked around a lot in his outings, giving up 22 hits and allowing 13 runs, all earned. Cannon also allowed a relatively high amount of home runs, giving up four long balls this spring.
Cannon was affected by the long ball last season, where he gave up 18, which came out to 1.3 home runs per nine.
The struggles for Cannon continued in his start against the San Francisco Giants, who have the best record in the Cactus League at 17-6. In his 3.1 innings, Cannon allowed six hits, three earned runs, allowed three walks, and struck out one batter.
Earlier Today, #WhiteSox SP Jonathan Cannon warming up for his start against #Giants
— Adrian White (@adrian_white_6) March 18, 2025
Box Score: 3.1 IP 6 H 3 ER 3 BB 1 K pic.twitter.com/R4YuEUfkwg
Working on a changeup
According to CHSN Chuck Garfien and Brook Fletcher, Cannon has been working on the feel for his changeup this spring, which could help him for this season.
.@ChuckGarfien and @BrookeFletcher joined The Chicago Lead to dive into Jonathan Cannon's struggles this spring: pic.twitter.com/k2MdP2BWGb
— White Sox on CHSN (@CHSN_WhiteSox) March 18, 2025
Cannon is a five-pitch pitcher, who has equal distribution of all his pitches. The best pitch in Cannon's arsenal is his sweeper, which he throws 21.8% of the time.
Last season Cannon struck out 25 batters with his sweeper, with his changeup right behind at 21. His changeup was also his best pitch, having the lowest batting average against (.248) and slugging percentage (.394).
A better emphasis on his changeup will help Cannon be successful this season. In his chart on Baseball Savant, Cannon likes to work his sinker more to his arm side and work his four-seamer at the top of the zone.
Pairing a changeup with his sinker and fastball should help him be a more effective pitcher this season, and it could up his strikeout percentage.
Flushing the struggles from this spring
With Opening Day being a week away, Cannon will need to flush the struggles from this spring and start all over once the season begins.
Baseball-Reference projects that Cannon will have a 6-8 record with a 4.19 ERA in 119.0 innings this season.
To avoid a repeat of last season, where they were the worst team in baseball history, the White Sox will need Cannon to be successful.