White Sox send struggling starter Jonathan Cannon to Triple-A, ‘opportunity to get his confidence back’
Three strikes, Jonathan Cannon is out.
For a little while, at least.
After a trio of rough outings, the White Sox’ right-hander was sent to the minors Friday in an effort to cure what’s led to a whopping 13.50 ERA in his last 12 innings.
“We felt like it was a good time to give him a breather,” general manager Chris Getz said. “He’d been fighting himself a little bit, searching, so we view it as an opportunity to get his confidence back.
“He’s a guy that needs to attack the zone. He’s got an ability to get quick early contact, but he kind of got away from that approach. His pitch counts were getting high, he wasn’t as productive, so we’ve got some things to work on.
“He’s still very early in his career, and we believe in him. We’ve seen an extended period of time being a successful starter. He needs to go down there and get to work, and I’m sure he’ll be back here before he knows it.”
The 25-year-old, in his second big league season, was particularly hammered in his most recent start, in which he gave up seven runs on four hits and three walks, recording just five outs against the Mariners on Wednesday.
That followed back-to-back six-run outings against the Rays and Phillies, a disturbing enough trend to force the Sox to send Cannon to Triple-A Charlotte.
“It’s a chance for Jonathan to take a deep breath and then find [himself],” Getz said. “It’s really hard at the major league level when you start searching. When you go down to Triple-A, the game slows down, it’s a different pace to it. Oftentimes, you can just lose yourself at the major league level, where you go back down, and [you realize], ‘Oh, this is what I can do.’
“I hope he views it as an opportunity. I know he was disappointed, but he understood. We still believe in him, of course, … and that's why we made the move. We know there’s a better version of Jonathan Cannon than what we’ ve seen here recently.”
The Sox will turn to lefty reliever Tyler Alexander to handle the bulk of the innings the next time they get to Cannon’s spot in the rotation.
Schultz, Smith to Fall League
Two of the Sox’ highest-rated prospects, left-handed pitchers Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith, will play in the Arizona Fall League later this year, Getz said Friday.
Schultz has put up ugly numbers since being promoted to Triple-A Charlotte in mid June, with a sky-high 11.91 ERA in 11 1/3 innings across three starts. He followed that up with his second bad Futures Game outing in as many years, allowing four runs and only getting two outs. He hasn’t pitched in a game since, out with a knee injury.
Smith hasn’t fared much better at Double-A Birmingham following a long layoff that lasted most of May and almost all of June. He’s got a 5.18 ERA and 17 walks, compared to 33 strikeouts, in 24 1/3 innings across his last seven starts.
Civale crushed, Tauchman tossed
Aaron Civale’s three-start scoreless streak ended Friday, with the Guardians tagging the righty starter for nine runs in the Sox’ 9-5 loss.
Right fielder Mike Tauchman earned his first career ejection for slamming his helmet off home plate after the third-base umpire ruled he failed to check his swing, ending the sixth inning with the bases loaded.