2025 Kannapolis Cannon Ballers season review

Because these affiliate reviews only cover the White Sox prospects who finished the year at the given level, the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers won't get credited for being the launching pad for some of the White Sox's happiest development stories of 2025. Caleb Bonemer, Braden Montgomery and Christian Oppor all started the season in Kannapolis, but they proved too talented to keep down for an entire season, which is the whole mission of player development.

It's just that the guys who stayed behind, or the ones who took their places, had a hard time keeping it going, and that's if they even got it going in the first place. The highs and lows balanced out to a 64-68 overall record with some pretty extreme stats on both sides of the ball, which you might not expect from one of the two oldest rosters in the league.

For instance, while no other White Sox affiliate stole 200 bases in 2025, the Cannon Ballers finished the season with a whopping 302 steals in 132 games. They finished second in the league in that category, along with batting average and OBP, while finishing third in runs. That all checks out, even if a lot of it was seemingly fueled by a 24-year-old Jordan Sprinkle exploiting a glitch by posting a .411 OBP and stealing 65 bases in 63 games despite slugging just .295.

The pitching staff is where things tended to unravel. While the walk rate is barely inflated above the league average, they finished one HBP away from the league lead with 118 while outright leading the league with 38 balks. Even the league's lowest error total couldn't prevent that amount of free bases from coming around to score, which is how the Cannon Ballers ended up with the third-highest RA/9 in a league that was by far the stingiest for Low-A offenses.

Hitters

George Wolkow: It remains the case that a project like Wolkow would've been much better suited for the days of the Great Falls Voyagers or Bristol Sox, because he had to do the remainder of his teenage development against more advanced competition. After spending the majority of 2024 in Kannapolis, he returned to Low-A for 2025 and spent the entirety of the season there, but his production was a cut below:

• 2024: .241/.342/.428 over 325 PA
• 2025: .223/.317/.362 over 496 PA

Of course, that 2024 line came a matching BABIP (.406) and strikeout rate (40.6 percent), while the 2025 line boasted a strikeout rate that began with a "2" -- just barely, at 29.6, but still. He also swiped 33 bases in 39 attempts, so he still possesses all the necessary athleticism to astound if the hit tool ever comes around. His age will finally start with a "2" in January, so next season feels like a year that will require progress to generate buy-in.

Javier Mogollón: After a dynamic stateside debut with the ACL White Sox in 2024, Mogollón's full-season debut in Kannapolis was even more exciting, as he came out of the gate hitting .286/.440/.527 and significantly slashing his strikeout rate more than a dozen percentage points to 25.6 percent. Then he missed nearly three weeks with a hamstring injury, and he never quite shook it. He batted just .158/.245/.253 over his remaining 107 plate appearances before playing his final game of the season on June 29.

Mogollón doesn't turn 20 untl next month, so he can absorb missing half a season in terms of his development. It just gets a little more complicated because while he was away, the White Sox drafted four shortstops. It's good news for the system if Mogollón has competition up the middle in A-ball, but he'll no longer have all the playing time to himself.

Ronny Hernandez: Hernandez returned to Kannapolis after a respectable showing with the Cannon Ballers as a 19-year-old in 2024, but he ended up spending a second full season in Low-A, and like Wolkow, any progress isn't immediately detectable:

• 2024: .272/.387/.328 over 411 PA
• 2025: .251/.344/.336 over 355 PA

Basically, the takeaway is that Hernandez made enough contact that he could stand to strike out more if it resulted in a power boost. The exchange rate just wasn't quite what he needed -- he gained 30 points of ISO, but his K rate jumped from 14.3 percent to 21.1 percent. He also showed some improvement in cutting down runners -- although with 115 stolen base against him in just 550 innings, he had a ton of practice. The overall picture fails to scintillate, but because he's a lefty who knows what he's doing against right-handed pitching, he can't be counted out just yet.

Abraham Núñez: After a decent initial stateside showing at 18 with the ACL White Sox in 2024, Núñez was rewarded with a promotion to Kannapolis at the end of April. Unfortunately for him, he was sent back down to Arizona in early August because he never found his footing, hitting .204/.279/.278 over 273 plate appearances. He has two things going for him: He played center field almost exclusively during his time with the Ballers, and he didn't strike out a ton for a 19-year-old (22 percent). The contact just didn't really do anything.

Nick McLain and Casey Saucke: The third- and fourth-round picks from the 2024 draft combined for 80 plate appearances, and neither outfielder made it out of April. McLain, who didn't play professionally during his draft year, ended up on the injured list with a back issue, and Saucke underwent Tommy John surgery. The latter injury seems like a stroke of bad luck, especially since he held his own in Winston-Salem the year before. The former's status has been murky for the majority of his time in the White Sox organization.

Adrian Gíl: He parlayed a .246/.364/.448 showing in his return to the ACL White Sox into 24 games with Kannapolis to round out his season. He hit just .141/.272/.205 with 34 strikeouts over 93 plate appearances in Low-A. He's mostly interesting because while he spent 2024 bouncing between first, second and third base, the White Sox started regularly playing him at catcher with the Cannon Ballers in late August and early September. You don't see that very often, at least above the rookie leagues.

Colby Shelton: The sixth-round pick out of Florida singled in his second professional trip to the plate, then went hitless in his next 38 plate appearances. He had no hope of salvaging his season line from that point forward, finishing the year hitting .141/.243/.172. He had just one extra-base hit over 114 plate appearances, but at least it had to feel good, as it was a homer that ended the marathon skid.

Anthony DePino: Taken one round after Shelton, DePino didn't quite translate his explosive showing with Rhode Island to Kannapolis, but he had his moments. He hit .223/.359/.320 over 29 games with encouraging plate discipline numbers and hints of power while stealing 11 bases in as many attempts. It's just not as impressive at first base, which is where he played exclusively because the reps on the left side of the infield went to Bonemer and Shelton.

Ely Brown: The 12th-round pick out of Mercer had the best showing of any 2025 White Sox draft pick. He naturally fit at the top of the order for Kannapolis, hitting .317/.417/.347 over 27 games while going 15-for-15 in stolen-base attempts. He only managed 12 extra-base hits over 60 games in the Southern Conference, so it doesn't seem like slugging is going to be in the cards.

Pitchers

Luis Reyes: The overall numbers might not scream it -- a 4.34 ERA with 13 unearned runs over 87 innings -- but the 19-year-old can be called a success story on the 2025 scorecard. He spent the first two months of the season toggling between encouraging starts and abject disasters, but steadied by the start of June and posted a 2.98 ERA over his last 14 games. He blasted past career highs in starts (23) and innings (87), so he's providing decent early returns on the $700,000 investment that made him the jewel of an otherwise underwhelming 2023 White Sox international signing class.

Mathias LaCombe: The 12th-round pick in the 2023 draft didn't make his professional debut until this past May, but the French-born righty was able to make up for some lost ground. Once he was able to take the mound, he posted regularly, finishing the season with 53⅓ innings over 19 games. He goosed up his overall numbers by overpowered ACL hitters -- which makes sense since he turned 23 during that portion of the season -- but he then held his own in Kannapolis despite an uptick in walks. The arm is legit, but the breaking ball needs work.

Pierce George and Blake Shepardson: The White Sox opened Day 3 of the 2024 draft by taking power righties with two of their first three picks. The positive spin is that they combined to allow zero homers over 74 innings in their first full season in the majors. You'd just have to overlook the 84 walks and 18 hit batters along the way.