The Chicago White Sox will have a ton of options to choose from for all the open positions they currently have vacancies for bringing 24 players into camp this spring.
The White Sox have a few options on their current 40-man roster that they can choose from to start for them on Opening Day.
A few options in the running are newly signed left-hander Martin Perez, right-hander Jonathan Cannon, Bryse Wilson, or possibly Sean Burke. One of these players has been rumored to be the guy and it would be a huge honor for him to get going into his second full season in the big leagues.
Jonathan Cannon could be the Chicago White Sox Opening Day Starter
White Sox beat writer and columnist for MLB.com Scott Merkin caught up with the 24-year-old Cannon at this year’s Soxfest and asked how he felt about potentially being the White Sox Opening Day starter for this season, to which Cannon gave a very humble response.
“Cannon on being the potential Opening Day starter: “I mean, that would be a huge honor for me. We have a long way to go with spring and everything so I’m looking forward to getting out of Spring Training and starting to get dialed in on a routine.”
Cannon on being the potential Opening Day starter: "I mean, that would be a huge honor for me. We have a long way to go with spring and everything so I’m looking forward to getting out of Spring Training and starting to get dialed in on a routine."
— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) January 24, 2025
The 6-6 right-hander outside of Garrett Crochet was one of the White Sox’s better starting pitchers last season making 21 starts accumulating a record of 5-10 with a 4.49 ERA and 91 strikeouts in 124.1 innings of work. Cannon has a five-pitch mix that consists of a sinker, a sweeper, a cutter, a changeup, and a four-seam fastball which all get used at an equal rate.
The one standout for Cannon is he ranked in the 70th percentile for hard-hit percentage. FanGraphs projects that Cannon will slot into the number spot in the White Sox starting rotation, but he easily could be the ‘Ace’ of the staff if he gets the Opening Day nod.
Last night, Jonathan Cannon struck out a career-high 7 batters over 7.0 IP pic.twitter.com/kDHPqIeRDk
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) June 13, 2024
Even though Cannon doesn’t have that much major league experience he will have to somewhat step into a leadership role if given this high honor which he shouldn’t have a problem doing. Having veterans on the staff like Perez and Wilson to help guide Cannon on how to be a successful big-league pitcher will be critical for his development.
An honor to be given the nod
If allowed to start on Opening Day for the White Sox Cannon would be joining an elite company with the likes of Garrett Crochet and Chris Sale as being one of the youngest White Sox pitchers to start on Opening Day.
At just 24 years old Cannon has the opportunity to do big things like be the Ace of the White Sox staff after never being a highly lauded prospect.
If Cannon can perform well in spring training and show that he has taken a step forward in his development, then he certainly could get the nod come Opening Day.
Chicago White Sox could be great in the near future: Executive
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