By Thomas Lott
KANNAPOLIS â It took 614 days and a rainout scare, but after a lost season and a brand new ballpark sitting all but vacant for nearly a year, the Cannon Ballers finally celebrated their inaugural season opener at Atrium Health Ballpark on Tuesday.
While they would have liked to celebrate it with a win the team did fall to the Down East Wood Ducks 8-4, but that did not put a damper on the excitement throughout the stadium. Some of that might have come from the anxiety that thunderstorms bring to baseball.
The rain fell onto the field up to less than an hour before game time and there were certainly fears the first game at Atrium Health Ballpark would be pushed back one more day. But at about a quarter after 6 the skies started to clear. Baseball was going to be played and owner Andy Sandler was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.
Now s Time For Chicago White Sox To Trade For Rangers Joey Gallo forbes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from forbes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
After signing for $3.7 million as the 11th overall pick in the 2017 Draft, Jake Burger spent most of his pro debut in Low A. The White Sox planned on pushing him aggressively, but instead he hasn't played in a Minor League game since that summer. When he returns to
50
Billed as the best collegiate defensive player in the 2018 Draft, Peña has since added 20 pounds of muscle and now has modest, but relevant power. After looking uncharacteristically mistake-prone during the 2019 Fall League, he was the Dominican Winter League’s best infield defender in 2020 and should be a plus big league defender at shortstop. While he isn’t as deft and precise with the barrel, Peña’s swing shares some common rotational elements with fellow Astro Yuli Gurriel. Peña can pull his hands in and get the fat part of the bat on pitches on the inner half, which should enable him to hit 12 to 15 annual pull shots, maybe a couple more because of the Crawford Boxes in Houston. But the profile foundation here is Peña’s on-base ability and plus glove at a premium position. He’s 23 and hasn’t played above A-ball, but is still a pretty stable prospect, in part thanks to his coming of age in LIDOM.
Top 35 Prospects: St Louis Cardinals | FanGraphs Baseball fangraphs.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from fangraphs.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.