‘A unicorn’: Inside Jonathan Cannon’s rise to elite White Sox pitching prospect

WINSTON-SALEM, NC — 80 names were announced the night of July 17 last year. Jonathan Cannon’s wasn’t one of them.

The now 22-year-old Winston-Salem Dash right-handed pitcher expected to hear his name called on the first day of the 2022 MLB Draft. The towering 6-foot-6 University of Georgia product dominated collegiate batters with an advanced pitch mix and elite command of the strike zone.

Cannon couldn’t sleep much that night. While he was highly regarded by baseball analysts and teams around the league, the draft can be painfully unpredictable for its prospects.

“On draft day, the only thing I know is that I know nothing,” Cannon said. “It’s a complete surprise for everyone until you’re about a pick away.”

The next day, July 18, he got some good news. His agent informed him the Chicago White Sox planned to take him with their third-round pick — the 101^st overall selection. Cannon said the White Sox were especially high on him throughout the draft process.

After a day fraught with disappointment, Cannon had a hefty weight taken off his shoulders. The ensuing few days of celebration with family and friends was a culmination of something long in the making.

Growing up in Roswell, Georgia, Cannon was always surrounded by sports. His father, Ronnie, played basketball at Presbyterian College. His grandfather, Mike Pulaski, was a longtime baseball coach. Given his stature, it’s unsurprising that Jonathan dabbled in both.

At Centennial High School, in addition to lettering twice for basketball, Cannon served as the ace of the Knights’ pitching staff and was lethal at the plate. He hit .369 with four home runs as a senior — while maintaining a 1.57 ERA — and gained some draft interest.

Despite possessing a fastball with a velocity grading out in the 99.35^th percentile for the high school class of 2019, Cannon knew he had room for development. He thought college was better suited for filling out his frame and establishing routines.

He chose to stay close to home, a little under 70 miles east, in Athens. Upon his arrival, he decided his days as a two-way star were behind him.

“I remember I got to Georgia, and the coach said, ‘Yeah you can maybe hit,’” Cannon said. “Honestly, I watched some guys throw bullpens and I had no chance.”

As a freshman in 2020, Cannon made a handful of appearances as a reliever and posted a 0.00 ERA in 11.1 innings. The Bulldogs had a promising start to the year, but ahead of the first conference game on March 13, madness struck.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought Cannon’s rookie campaign to a screeching halt. When he went back home, though, the work didn’t stop. Jonathan and his brother Matt, now a catcher at Saint Mary’s College, took to frequent bullpen sessions and live at-bats at Centennial High School to stay sharp.

Cannon missed the first month of his sophomore season recovering from mononucleosis. As he continued to put on weight and refine his mechanics after returning, those afternoons on his old high school diamond manifested in his game.

He tossed a team-high 63.1 innings throughout the season and played with the Orleans Firebirds of the Cape Cod Baseball League over the summer.

Still, despite being billed as Baseball America’s No. 45 prospect in the 2021 MLB draft, Cannon didn’t hear his name called. He elected to return to school, and in his junior season, he started to put it all together. He credits part of his development to Brian Cain, a baseball mental performance coach he began to meet with on Zoom in 2022.

“It’s a very challenging sport mentally. It helps to have someone to bounce ideas off, get routines, get stuff that rebuilds your confidence,” Cannon said. “I think it’s an overlooked factor, especially in pitching, so it was very beneficial for me.”

As the ace of Georgia’s rotation, Cannon became one of the nation’s premier pitching prospects. A semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, awarded to the country’s top player, Cannon was a surefire selection in the early rounds of the 2022 draft.

When he lasted until day two, there were plenty of smiles popping up around the White Sox organization. One of which belonged to John Ely, who is currently in his first season as pitching coach with the Dash.

“We knew we hit a home run with that draft pick,” Ely said. “In my personal opinion, I think he should have been a no doubt first-round pick. As soon as he walked on campus, we knew we had something special. It was glaring.”

Ely, a dominant pitcher at Miami University (Ohio), was taken in the third round by the White Sox back in 2007. After an eight-year playing career, including stints with five different MLB organizations, Ely didn’t necessarily foresee a future in coaching.

When he received an invitation to join the White Sox from former vice president and assistant general manager Buddy Bell, though, Ely accepted and inked a contract just a couple weeks later. He said he felt rewarded to start his new chapter with the team that gave him his start as a player.

“This was my favorite organization. I love the people here, I love the way we run things and I love the players we have,” Ely said. “Coming back was nostalgic, for sure. It was a really cool experience.”

Ely’s second season as pitching coach for the Single-A Kannapolis Cannon Ballers saw the arrival of a highly touted prospect: Cannon. The two share a drive to master the finer details of pitching and clicked from the jump.

After Cannon shined in three outings for Kannapolis, he got with Ely and others in his circle to find untapped potential in the offseason. He underwent biomechanical analysis, and they determined he had work to do in his lower half.

Ely said they improved his hip hinge and worked on helping him stay connected to the ground longer. For some players, the idea of such adjustments could lend skepticism. But Cannon took it in stride.

“Sometimes it’s difficult for players to feel that, but it wasn’t the case with [Cannon],” Ely said. “He was outstanding. It’s not a surprise but it was a pretty smooth transition. It was very fluid and natural for him.”

Cannon spent some of the offseason training back in Athens, and he’s become one of High-A’s top arms in 2023. In 11 starts, he’s compiled a 2.98 ERA with 53 strikeouts in 60.1 innings. He’s conceded an opposing batting average a little north of .200 and has only given up more than 3 runs in a start once.

With a highly effective four-seam fastball, cutter and sinker, Cannon pounds the zone and gets ahead in counts early and often. Add in a slider, curveball and changeup, and he boasts one of the more impressive pitch mixes Ely has ever seen.

“He’s kind of a unicorn,” Ely said. “There’s not a whole lot of people out there, even in the big leagues, that have six viable pitches. It makes him special.”

As such a polished pitcher, Cannon doesn’t look to tinker with much in his approach. According to Ely, one of the few things they consistently work on is figuring out which pitches to attack within certain situations.

It’s not the worst problem to have. Ely said these are “fun conversations” with his ace. After all, a strike-throwing maestro with a vast pitch repertoire doesn’t come around every year. A lifelong Braves fan, Cannon likens his profile to Atlanta’s Charlie Morton.

Cannon studied Morton during the Braves’ magical 2021 playoff run. They throw from a similar low to mid-three-quarters arm slot and possess similar pitch arsenals, and Cannon said he’s begun to implement some of Morton’s nuances.

Ely sees shades of White Sox righty Lance Lynn due to his velocity and off-speed package, but admitted it’s difficult to find a comparison. Major league pitchers with long track records of success are lofty comparisons, but they’re by no means unrealistic.

“He’s relentless. He’s looking for new ways to improve and he attacks his workouts like a savage,” Ely said. “His work ethic is unrivaled.”

“He’s definitely one of the guys that everybody looks to and thinks, ‘that’s how I got to do it. I got to pick my game up.’ And it’s really translating on the field well for us right now,” Ely added.

Cannon still meets with Cain weekly. In his last start, June 14 against the Asheville Tourists, he gave up 4 runs, a pair of homers and eight hits across 4.2 innings. Still, he remained level-headed throughout.

Staying focused and being able to reset himself allowed Cannon to labor through 93 pitches and fight through batters. He struck out eight, only issued one walk and did just enough. The Dash won 6-4.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, Cannon’s remaining time in Winston-Salem may be limited. As the No. 10 prospect in the White Sox system, his current form gives him a chance to rise rapidly.

Whatever the future holds, his drive for success won’t change. In the meantime, he’s just focused on executing his routines and frustrating opposing hitters.

“When you look at a guy and how they work diligently,” Ely said. “Jonathan Cannon is the gold standard for what you want.”