After the lost season of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers returned to the diamond in 2021 with many firsts. The season marked the team’s first campaign with the Cannon Baller nickname. This came in their brand-new stadium of Atrium Health Ballpark, right in heart of downtown Kannapolis. With the new changes and minor league baseball returning from its hiatus, the roster had mounted pressure on them. Let’s delve into how the season progressed for the team.
BEHIND THE 8-BALL EARLY
The Ballers started off the season on the wrong foot. With the new six-game series being implemented for the season, games were played from Tuesday through Sunday. The club started off with four six-game series in April. The club played eleven games before they recorded their first win of the year, coming against the Fayetteville Woodpeckers. The win was paired with another one, five contests later. The club could only muster two wins in the month of April, and started with a 2-22 record.
The biggest reason behind the lackluster start was the offensive production. Kannapolis scored two or fewer runs in fourteen of their first twenty-four games. That’s a recipe for disaster, especially when their opponents crushed Kannapolis pitching. When the pitching staff gives up six or more runs in seventeen of those contests, you know trouble lies ahead.
TOP ARMS STRUGGLE
Coming into the season, the Cannon Ballers were poised to have a strong rotation behind a trio of top White Sox prospects. Jared Kelley, Andrew Dalquist and Matt Thompson came with high expectations after filling into the top-10 of our pre-season prospect rankings. On paper, they were tabbed to lead Kannapolis to a strong season in their first goes at the minor league level.
All three prep draftees struggled mightily, combining for a disappointing 5-25 record and ERA sitting at 5.94. Dalquist pitched the most amongst the bunch and collected the most wins at three. While he might have had the most opportunities, he was inconsistent. A strong outing that saw him go five strong innings would be followed with a short outing with a handful of runs scored.
Unlike Dalquist, Thompson and Kelly were both hit by the injury bug with the latter being affected more. Thompson had a lower-body injury that sidelined him for the better part of a month to start. The marks against Thompson came with how hard he was hit around. A .384 BABIP and 4.77 BB/9 saw runners on base frequently, leading to scoring affairs at times. When he misses the bat, the 2019-draftee can be effective with a 9.67 K/9.
Kelley never found consistency in 2021. The top-ten prospect lost almost four months of the season due to injury. The thing bothering him was a shoulder impingement on his throwing arm. It was a season to forget for Kelley as his results on the bump weren’t great either: 0-5 record, 6.86 ERA, 21 IP, 19.6 BB% and .323 BABIP. This will go down as a lost year in his age-19 season.
RAMOS AND RODRIGUEZ RUMBLE
With the trio of arms having miserable years, a duo of prospects provided a spark on the other side of the baseball. Bryan Ramos and Jose Rodriguez cemented their status as clubhouse leaders early in the 2021 campaign. The pair mashed at the plate, and put Kannapolis in positions to win throughout the year.
Ramos came into the season a fresh 19-year-old. Despite his youth, the Cuban put on a show at the plate and his end-of-season stats backed that up. Ramos finished in the top-15 in almost all of the offensive categories. The growth was apparent with Ramos, whose best month came in September with a .956 OPS. The biggest thing for Ramos was his progression on the defensive end. He started out primarily DH’ing, with a fielding opportunity sprinkled in. By the end of the season, Ramos was regularly found at third base and performed well. It would not shock me to see him with Winston-Salem to start to 2022 season.
Rodriguez was even stronger that Ramos at the dish. The shortstop topped the leaderboards in hits and slugging by the start of August and received his rightly-deserved call to Winston-Salem shortly after. His call-up rejoined him with other key contributors to Kannapolis in Luis Mieses and Harvin Mendoza. Rodriguez’ departure left a hole at Kanny’s shortstop position that was never truly filled afterwards. Wilber Sanchez, Jeremiah Burkes and Samil Polanco rotated through the position. Rodriguez would end up progressing to Double-A Birmingham to help that club attempt a playoff push.
INJECTION OF YOUTH
At the start of August, Kannapolis sat at a woeful 25-52 record with no hopes at playoff contention. With the season dwindling, the roster had a massive shakeup. Anderson Comas, Wilber Sanchez and Misael Gonzalez were all called up from the ACL (Arizona Complex League) within the first ten days of the month. This led to a mass wave of 2021-draftees making their way onto the Kannapolis roster. By the end of the year, 11 of the White Sox 2021 draft selections dawned a Kannapolis uniform.
Shawn Goosenberg and Adam Hackenberg brought life to the offense for the club. The pairing brought some clutch hitting and experience as four-year Juniors in college. Sean Burke and Brooks Gosswein provided a glimpse into what is to come from them, posting a combined 9.93 K/9 as starters. The back-end of the bullpen was solidified with Theo Denlinger, Gil Luna Jr, and free-agent signee Kohl Simas. Simas threw shutout after shutout from the bullpen, keeping oppenents off the scoreboard in seven of his ten appearances for Kannapolis.
SOLID SEPTEMBER CLOSES SEASON
Kannapolis finished the 2021 season at 40-79, a dismal 31.5 games adrift of the division-winning Down East Wood Ducks. Despite the grim season record, Kannapolis ended the season on a positive note, going 9-7 in the month of September. Normally, that’s not a fantastic record, but it was one of Kannapolis’ better stretches of baseball. The club ended the season by winning six straight contests, including a sweep of the Columbia Fireflies. Outside of the record, the Cannon Ballers were a top-5 team in many pitching categories in the Low-A East for the month.
While there may not seem to be many positives to takeaway, the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers season wasn’t a failure. The club produced some top prospects in the White Sox organization and brought a glimpse of hope for next season with their end-of-year performance. Improvements will be needed across the board for a team that recorded one of the worst season’s since 2006 when the then Intimidators lost 94 of 136 games.
Photo credit: Michael Guariglia/FutureSox
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