When the White Sox traded Adam Eaton the day after Chris Sale, fans thought there was a typo in what the return was. Reynaldo Lopez, Dane Dunning, and no. 3 overall prospect Lucas Giolito was considered highway robbery for one above average outfielder. However, throughout Spring Training and the first third of Triple-A, Giolito has been roughed up plenty. In fact, his ERA is currently sitting at 5.36, and that is after he threw a no-hitter in his last start. However, the way he threw in his no-hitter might have been a glimpse of what is to come from the hard-throwing righty.
When Giolito got the call to the Nationals last year, he got lit up pretty easily as well. In 6 games, he posted a 6.75 ERA. It was rumored that the Nationals, for whatever reason, made adjustments to all of his mechanics that saw him once grow into the top prospect in all of baseball. When his arm did not react the way the Nationals would have liked, they saw him as more of an expendable asset instead of a future ace. And thus, he ended up with the White Sox.
A Season Of Change
This season, the White Sox have been rapidly attempting to get Giolito back to his past throwing form. It has been a grind so far, and some fans have already given up on his potential, mainly due to his fastball velocity dropping from 96 to 92. While there have been glimpses of his pure stuff, he has not been able to successfully repeat his delivery, which has led to bad control and command, and early onset fatigue. Now though, we might finally be seeing a turnaround with Giolito.
As you may have heard already, Giolito threw a seven-inning no-hitter in the first game of a double-header last week. While he only finished that night with 3 K’s, he consistently had batters making soft contact, inducing shallow pop flies, and slow grounders. Understandably so, many saw the no-hitter as an accomplishment, but more of a fluke than anything. Well, as I type this, Giolito is currently showing the doubters that is not a fluke at all.
Dealing Like He Knows He Can
Currently at 97 pitches through 6 innings, Giolito’s night is more than likely done. In those 6 innings, Giolito had 11 K’s and gave up one earned run. It is for sure the best start he has had this season, including the no-hitter from last week. When his command is on and he is dotting the corners with his curveball like this, he is virtually un-hittable.
RHP Lucas Giolito with 7 K’s over 4 IP. #dealing pic.twitter.com/Xaz6JGz5Rb
— Charlotte Knights (@KnightsBaseball) June 6, 2017
Over the past 5 starts, Giolito has been throwing the ball with much more confidence to a tune of a 2.57 ERA, 8.36 K/9, and 2.89 BB/9. It may have taken a little longer than people would have liked, but it looks like Giolito seems to finally be reverting back to the pitcher experts initially pegged him out to be.
