Season Recap: Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
With the White Sox breaking the record for the most losses in a season in modern day history, there haven’t been many positives in Chicago. However, in the minor leagues, there have been a lot of significant developments that White Sox fans can get excited about. We take a look at how the single- A affiliate of the White Sox, the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers, did this season.
Overall, the Cannon Ballers came in first place in their division, finishing the season with a 70-61 record. However, it was a tale of two seasons for the Cannon Ballers, as in the first half they had a phenomenal 41-25 record, but they followed it up with a 29-36 performance in the second half. To be fair, it is hard to play extremely well all season, as your best players typically get promoted during the season, especially on a 41-25 team.
The Cannon Ballers made it to the playoffs in their division and they won the first series 2-1 over Tampa Bay’s single-A affiliate. However, the Cannon Ballers would lose in the championship series two games to one, losing to the Washington Nationals’ affiliate.
This was a very successful season for the Cannon Ballers despite the loss in the championship. Throughout the year, they had some very solid performances, both on the hitting and the pitching side.
On the hitting side, George Wolkow led the pack with 11 homeruns. However, he finished second in RBIs, as Caden Connor beat him out with 55 RBIs compared to Wolkow’s 52. Arxy Hernandez was a close third with 51 RBIs on the season.
Wolkow was the most impressive player on Kannapolis, as he did all this as an 18 year old. After a rough start to his minor league career, he quickly turned it around.
Rikuu Nishida had a fantastic year for the Cannon Ballers, as he earned a promotion to AA to end the year.
Sam Antonacci, the White Sox 5th round pick in this year’s draft, had a great start to his minor league career, as he hit .333 with a .471 OBP in 23 games to end the season.
There was a lot of talent on Kannapolis, as there were plenty of promotions as the season progressed. There was plenty of talent on the pitching staff, as a few names stood out ahead of the others.
There were three pitchers that earned a promotion to High-A due to their fantastic performances in Kannapolis: Aldrin Batista, Seth Keener, and Lucas Gordon. For most of the season they had a fantastic three headed monster at the top of their rotation.
Aldrin Batista was 8-4 with a 3.51 ERA over 17 starts. He had 87 strikeouts in just 84 innings, while hitters hit a measly .233 against him.
Seth Keener was 4-3 with a 3.36 ERA over 14 starts. In 64.1 innings, he had 75 strikeouts, while hitters only hit .201 off him.
Lucas Gordon was 7-2 with a 1.89 ERA over 14 starts. In 71.1 innings, he had 64 strikeouts to go with a fantastic 1.08 WHIP, while hitters hit just .173 off of him.
The Cannon Ballers put together a fantastic season and there were plenty of players on the team that will be in Chicago sooner rather than later. If there were no promotions from the team, they would have likely won the championship. A lot of these players will likely begin the season in high-A, as they make room for the 2024 draft picks.