The second half to Jonathan Cannon’s season may not have gone quite like he had hoped, but that didn’t mean the Chicago White Sox didn’t like what they saw.

Chicago made Cannon the first Georgia player taken in this year’s MLB Draft, by selecting him Monday in the third round with the 101st overall pick.

He was joined later by Bulldog second baseman Cory Acton, who was taken in the ninth round by the Atlanta Braves.

A 6-foot-5 right-hander, Cannon was arguably one of the best pitchers in the SEC for the first half of the year.

Cannon was 6-0 with a 1.71 ERA through April 1 before feeling a twinge in his forearm that cost him almost a month. Once returning, Cannon threw five innings of perfect ball, but after that, struggled to find the same consistency.

Ultimately, Cannon finished the season 9-4 with a 4.02 ERA.

“He was one of the best guys in the country the first half of the season, then he had the flareup in his forearm. They can look at anything they want to, to be honest with you. But if you look at his analytical numbers, they’re all really, really good,” head coach Scott Stricklin said. “That’s the thing that gets pro guys excited, because they know what kind of stuff he has. Then you take the character, the physical attributes, you put all those things together, that’s a really, really good safe pick for a team.”

Acton, a 6-0, 175-pound native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., started 50 games for the Bulldogs in his first season wearing the red and black. He batted .266 with nine doubles, five home runs and 30 RBI for the Bulldogs who finished 36-23 in 2022. In the NCAA Chapel Hill (N.C.) Regional, Acton hit .357 with two doubles, one home run and four RBI plus perfect fielding in 11 total chances.

He is the first selection by the Braves since Riley King in 2019 when they drafted him in the 26th round, however King opted to return to UGA. Shortstop Cam Shepherd signed with the Braves as a free agent in 2020 when the draft was limited to only five rounds.

Acton spent his first three seasons playing for Florida after graduating from American Heritage High School. He was a 39th round pick of the Detroit Tigers in the 2018 MLB Draft. During his Gator career, Acton appeared in 106 games with 92 starts. He batted .241 with 12 doubles, seven home runs and 44 RBI.