7-18-2025 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
This team BADLY needed a breather heading into the All Star Break as many of the key offensive pieces – namely, Bryan Reynolds – have been struggling to hit in the first half of the season. They likely will be eager to face a team which has been performing even worse than the Pirates in the Chicago White Sox and their first starter for the weekend, Jonathan Cannon.
Cannon is in his second major league season pitching for the White Sox and enters play with a 3-7 record and a 4.44 ERA through 77 innings of work on the year. He has struggled with striking out opponents, missing bats or putting the ball over the plate as he has 5 hit batters, 2 wild pitches and a balk alongside 29 walks against 61 strikeouts.
The former third round pick in the 2022 draft out of the University of Georgia features a five pitch mix with his 4-seam/2-seam reaching 96 MPH but sitting in the low-90s in addition to a high-80s cutter, mid-80s changeup and low-80s sweeper.
Unfortunately for Cannon, these pitches all rate below average as only his changeup has a sub-.240 batting average and sub-.320 wOBA.
The changeup has been an impactful weapon against lefties as they are hitting .196 against the pitch but are having no issues against his other offerings with a .271 BA against his cutter, .318 versus his 4-seam, .381 on this sinker and .429 with an eye-popping 1.429 SLG against his sweeper.
Right-handed hitters have struggled against his 4-seamer (.174 BA) but have had no trouble with his sinker as they have posted a .270 BA against the offering with a .460 SLG and just a 5.4% Whiff rate.
The 24-year old has struggled especially in away games as his ERA jumps from a solid 3.42 mark at home to 4.97 when playing outside of Rate Field and takes a while to lock in as he is posting a 6.12 ERA and .991 OPS the first time through the order.
Lefties need to lay off the changeup and attack everything else. Righties need to look for sinkers middle and down that they can elevate. The kid is still fairly green and has every chance to figure things out in the big leagues but there’s no reason that the Pirates can’t put together some good at-bats and notch a couple crooked innings tonight with some cannonballs coming!
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