Hey, if it worked for Colson Montgomery …
The Chicago White Sox’s demotion of right-handed pitcher Jonathan Cannon on Friday to Triple-A Charlotte is similar to Montgomery’s demotion in the minors in late April. Montgomery struggled at Charlotte and was bounced to the Arizona Complex League, only to have him thrive to the point at which he is producing at the big-league level after a July 4 call-up.
“There’s development opportunities throughout a season, and Colson obviously gets a lot of attention for going to Arizona and getting back to Charlotte and doing what he was doing,” White Sox general manager Chris Getz said before the start of a three-game series with the Cleveland Guardians. “Obviously that’s worked out very well for him considering how productive he’s been at the major-league level.
“In a way it’s a chance for Jonathan to take a deep breath and then find yourself. It’s really hard at the major-league level when you start searching. When you go down to Triple A, the game slows down, so it’s a different pace to it.”
Getz said a player can lose himself at the major-league level and wants the 25-year-old Cannon to get himself right with Charlotte.
“I hope he views it as an opportunity,” Getz said. “I know he was disappointed, but he understood. We still believe in him, of course, like we believe in so many of our players. 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.”
Cannon pitched in 23 games (21 starts) in his rookie season in 2024, going 5-10 with a 4.49 ERA.
He opened this season on a strong note, throwing five shutout innings in a no-decision on March 29 as the Sox lost 1-0 to the Los Angeles Angels. It wasn’t until April 26 that he picked up his first victory of the year in a 10-3 win over the Athletics.
He stayed in the rotation until June 3, when he went on the injured list with a back injury. He returned on May 29 with mixed results, but in his last three appearances, he gave up 18 earned runs in 12 innings and allowed six home runs. On Wednesday, he gave up seven earned runs on four hits with three walks in an 8-6 road loss to the Seattle Mariners to drop to 4-9 with a 5.34 ERA.
At the very least, Cannon figures to be a September call-up, but the team is hoping he can get it together in the coming weeks.
“It’s going to be about strike-throwing for him, and that means some different things.” manager Will Venable said Saturday before Game 2 of the series at Rate Field. “He’s got different ways to get there. We’ve collaborated with him.
“He and (pitching coach) Ethan (Katz) have talked about some really fine points that they’re going to try to execute. Broadly, though, it’s going to be about being competitive in the zone, specifically with the fastballs, and commanding those pitches.”
The back-injury layoff may have contributed to some of Cannon’s pitching woes.
“Certainly that can be a factor for anybody at any time,” Venable said. “That’s part of taking a rehab assignment — you work those things out and be ready to go. And that’s part of our process is making sure that we get to those spots where we feel comfortable bringing those guys back when they’re on rehab assignments.”
Left-hander Tyler Alexander, whom the Sox signed as a free agent June 8 after the Milwaukee Brewers released him, looks to fill Cannon’s role in the rotation. Alexander, 31, has five starts this season and is a combined 4-10 with a 4.52 ERA between the Brewers and Sox.
Injury report
Left-hander Martin Pérez, who has been on the injured list since April 19 with a left flexor strain, threw 58 pitches in four innings Friday night for Double-A Birmingham. He allowed one earned run on three hits with three walks and two strikeouts in a 1-0 loss to Chattanooga. The run he allowed came on a balk.
Venable said the report on the outing was “great.”
“He felt really good,” Venable said. “I talked to him afterward and he was really excited. He’ll have at least another rehab start (at Charlotte) on his next turn around. But it was a really positive report coming out of it.”
Pérez still needs to build up his workload before the Sox consider bringing him back to the parent squad.
“We’ll take it start by start,” Venable said. “We certainly want him to come back at full capacity and more than anything having a couple starts toward full capacity for him to be able to recover and make sure that he’s feeling good.
“I think we just give it the appropriate amount of time and let him build back. But it’s all good stuff so far.”
Pérez, 34, began the season in the rotation and was 1-1 with a 3.15 ERA in four starts before the injury. In his first outing March 31, he threw six no-hit innings with nine strikeouts against the Minnesota Twins.
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
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