KANNAPOLIS, NC — On Tuesday night, the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers began a six-game set with the Carolina Mudcats, the low-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cannon Ballers have gotten off to a rough start through the first month and a quarter of the 2021 minor league baseball season, as they came into the game with a record of just four wins against 25 losses – by far the worst record across all three of the low-A divisions. Still, the Kannapolis squad has had some standout players to this point of the schedule, and pitcher Bailey Horn is no exception.
Horn had Tommy John surgery in his 2018 season in junior college but that didn’t stop the 6-foot-2 left-hander out of Auburn from becoming the White Sox fifth-round draft pick in the 2020 first-year player draft. Horn entered the 2021 season as the 24th-ranked prospect in the White Sox system according to MLB.com.
Since the entirety of the 2020 minor league season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this season will be the first time White Sox fans can get a look at Bailey Horn in the organization.
In his first start against Carolina at the end of May, Horn put in two innings of work and struck out six batters. Bailey Horn took to the mound to open the series against the Mudcats, bringing with him an underwhelming 4.22 earned run average in 10.2 innings pitched. Despite his high ERA, Horn’s other stats look good: 11 strikeouts, three walks, all while holding opponents to a batting average of just .205 through his four starts of 2021.
Horn certainly looked sharp in his 4.1 innings against the Carolina offense. From the first inning his fastball sat at 96mph, and he even ramped it up to 98 to strike out Mudcats’ first baseman Noah Campbell to end the frame. Bailey’s secondary pitches had good movement, but as the game went on and his pitch count mounted, he seemed to lose command of everything except his fastball.
While he only logged one walk in his outing, Horn worked a couple of counts to 3-1 and 3-2, seemingly unable to get a hold on his breaking stuff in the latter portion of his start. After he struck out Carolina left fielder Arbert Cipion in the fifth inning, the call to the bullpen was made and Horn’s night came to a close with 72 pitches thrown, 45 of which were strikes. Unfortunately as the game progressed the Cannon Ballers bullpen and defense let the score slip away and Horn was left with a no-decision for his effort.
If Horn continues to look as sharp as he did in the first couple of innings against the Carolina Mudcats, then it will be no surprise to see his ERA drop and the strikeouts pile up as the 2021 season continues. The current Cannon Ballers defense will probably not do him any favors where runs are concerned, but if he puts matters in his own hands like he did the first time he faced the Mudcats, he might not need anyone behind him.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that this is just his first year of professional baseball. The White Sox have already been shuffling their players around quite a bit and Horn definitely has the raw talent to maybe move up to at least high-A Winston-Salem later in the year, but it wouldn’t be out of the question that he spends the 2021 season in low-A to get some experience under his belt.
If Bailey Horn can develop more command of his secondary pitches as he goes later and later into games, his fastball velocity and off-speed pitch movement will combine for an impressive repertoire as a left-handed pitcher. Any time Horn takes the mount it will be worth it to check the box score after the game to see how he performed.
Photo credit: Anders Johanson/FutureSox
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