Kevin Canelon

Kevin David Canelon

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 0", Weight 181 lb.

• Born January 16, 1994 in Caracas, D.F. Venezuela

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kevin Canelon peaked at AA and has been on the French national team.

He was signed by New York Mets scouts Rafael Perez, Ismael Cruz and Jose Mota in September 2010. He was 1-2 with a 7.08 ERA and 2.02 WHIP for the 2011 DSL Mets 2 for a rough pro debut, but made major strides the next year with the same club (1-1, 2.95, 1.04 WHIP). He was 6-2 with a 2.86 ERA for the '13 DSL Mets 2.

Coming stateside, he was 1-2 with a save and a 1.45 ERA for the 2014 GCL Mets, walking only one in 37 1/3 innings. He was 5-5 with a 4.09 ERA for the 2015 Brooklyn Cyclones, leading the New York-Penn League with 70 whiffs (3 ahead of Jefry Rodríguez). He was 6-11 with a 3.64 ERA for the Columbia Fireflies the next year, walking only 28 in 143 1/3 IP. He was 5th in the South Atlantic League in innings (between Trey Killian and Mike Soroka), had the 4th-lowest walk rate among league starters and tied for second in losses (one behind Dario Agrazal).

The southpaw was 3-4 with a save and a 2.97 ERA in 32 games (10 starts) for the St. Lucie Mets, with 78 K to 16 BB. That winter, he allowed only one run in 8 2/3 IP for the Tiburones de La Guaira in his Venezuelan League debut. Now a free agent, he was signed by the Cincinnati Reds. He split 2018 between the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (1-0, 0 R in 3 1/3 IP) and Daytona Tortugas (0-2, 2.94 in 37 G; 12 BB to 69 K in 67 1/3 IP). He allowed five runs in four innings for the 2018-2019 Tiburones.

Despite having been a solid reliever in high-A in 2018, no MLB team snatched him for 2019 and he signed with France's Barracudas de Montpellier. He was dominant at 11-1, 0.49 with a save, .169 opponent average and 125 K to 17 BB in 110 2/3 IP. He won the ERA title (.24 ahead of Yoimer Camacho), was second to Gen Utamura in complete games (6), led in shutouts (3, one ahead of Nolan Watson), was 4th in opponent average (between Clifford Heberden and Ely Itzturriaga), tied Camacho for third in IP, was 6th in K (between Brendan Jenkins and Yorfrank López) and 3rd in walks (3 behind Camacho and Jenkins). The 2020 French season was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In '21, he was 7-3 with a save and a 1.75 ERA for Montpellier, walking only six in 72 innings. He fell to 10th in ERA, was sixth in innings (between Wilce Nieves and Esteban Prioul), placed seventh in strikeouts (84, between Prioul and Camacho) and tied Prioul and Erlis Casanova for third in wins. In 2022, he was 7-1 with a 1.26 ERA for the Barracudas, with 7 walks to 87 K in 64 1/3 IP, giving up a .193 average. He was 4th in ERA (between Shane Priest and Mathis Nayral), 9th in opponent average (between José Paula and Prioul), 3rd in innings (after Nieves and Robinson Mastre), led in whiffs (two ahead of Mastre) and led in wins (one ahead of Prioul and Mastre). He was 0-1 with a 7.50 ERA in the 2022 Confederation Cup, losing to the Tenerife Marlins.

World Baseball Classic rules allowed players with experience in the country's league to play for the national team even if they were not citizens so France bulked up on Latino players active in French Division I for the 2022 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, including Canelon (the pitching staff had six pitchers from France, six from Venezuela and one apiece from Canada, Japan and the USA). He got the nod in their opener against Great Britain, squaring off against McKenzie Mills. He began well, retiring the first four (Mariners prospect Harry Ford, Matt Koperniak, Nick Ward and Justin Wylie) before Alex Crosby singled. He got D'Shawn Knowles swinging, plunked Jaden Rudd and retired Kent Blackstone. Carrying a 1-0 lead into the third, he then ran into trouble when Anfernee Seymour reached on an Ariel Soriano error. Ford hit a two-run homer to put the Brits ahead then Koperniak got hit. Ward hit into a twin killing and Wylie lined out. In the 4th, he walked Crosby and Knowles then Prioul took over and both would score. He didn't fare much worse than his teammates as Britain wound up scoring 14 runs; Canelon took the loss.