Spring Training is coming along as the White Sox continue to work on formulating the best possible roster to open the season with this year. The pitching staff is the area with the most question marks as multiple rotation spots and the majority of bullpen spots are still up for grabs. A focal point of 2024 will be identifying pitchers who will be featured next season.
FutureSox #9 overall White Sox prospect
While he won’t be a member of the rotation to start the year, pitching prospect Jonathan Cannon is someone to watch who could debut later this year. Our 9th-ranked prospect in the organization has a high floor aided by his ability to throw a plethora of pitches at a quality level. While that has been sort of a calling card for him, he adjusted his arsenal this winter in hopes of having a more focused and effective approach on the mound moving forward.
I asked him about his adjustments and what he worked on this off-season and he explained to me the changes in his pitch mix and why he believes it will help him. His pitching will now “revolve around the sinker, changeup, cutter, and sweeper” with occasional high 4-seam fastballs in the mix. Cannon experimented a lot last season with different offerings but believes these four give him a strong and focused mix of pitches that can help him grow.
In part of limiting himself to these four offerings, Cannon has been working with Brian Bannister to change the movement profile on some of those pitches. He put emphasis on that every pitch can always get better and how working with Bannister has been a big help.
When discussing his sweeper that he started implementing last season, he said “getting it a little more horizontal. The biggest thing for me…it is really just the command of it which comes with reps.” In terms of his cutter, Cannon explained “taking a little bit of vert and velocity off it. It was 90-93 last year and got kind of flat at times. Now it’s like 88-89 with a little more depth to it like a hard slider.”
These adjustments feel very logical given his plan to focus primarily on four pitches. Having more of a slow swing-and-miss pitch with his sweeper should pair well with a cutter that features added depth. He noted that he has already seen results this spring with that new version of the cutter.
His location of the sinker is another note he made as he works to refine his command all over the zone. He discussed how he used his sinker previously and that he’s now working on throwing the pitch to his glove side which he never used to do. He explained “sinkers up and in on lefties and down and away from righties. That’s really what I’m working off of and everything plays off that. That’s going to be my bread and butter this year.”
Essentially, while Cannon develops his cutter into more of a whiff pitch with more depth, he’s preparing to use his sinker as the primary fastball in his mix. Being able to locate the sinker inside to left-handers and outside to right-handers will let him use that pitch as his fastball to set up the two horizontally moving aforementioned pitches.
As a pitcher who has already established his ability to command the zone frequently, elevating his ability to miss bats could allow Cannon to reach Chicago late this season. He believes in his pitching and knows that he can take it to the next level this year. In regards to what he needs to do to reach the next levels, he said “I think I have the blueprint with all the pitches I’m working on and I think all of them play at the highest level. It’s just gonna be about going out and executing them from game to game.”
Keep an eye on Cannon this year as someone with even more upside than he showed last season in the minors. He has the makings of a big league starter and will get a shot in the near future with the White Sox.