There’s no denying White Sox rookie starting pitcher Lucas Giolito had a rough season in 2018, but he ready to put that behind him and start fresh in 2019. Giolito sat down with NBC Sports Chicago’s Chuck Garfien at SoxFest last weekend to explain himself.
"I know that I have the stuff to be extremely successful in this league. No denying that."
Lucas Giolito tells White Sox fans why they should expect to see more consistency this season pic.twitter.com/kL6dlD81F9
— White Sox Talk (@NBCSWhiteSox) January 31, 2019
It sure was a season of “ups and downs” for the once-heralded southern-Californian, and there is no shortage of Sox fans ready for him to follow through on his potential in the near future. In fact, much of the White Sox’s future success hinges on his right arm.
“It was definitely a mental toll,” Giolito told Garfien, “but I felt really good later in the year. I felt like I was starting to find a groove and starting to feel good. … Still though, it was like, kind of haunting me the whole year. Those starts where, from the get-go, it just got away from me. And so that’s the main thing this year, the big word in my head is consistency.”
Giolito is nothing if articulate, and he is able to crystallize the obstacles and trouble he faced last year better than most. But if we are being honest with ourselves, he looked more uncomfortable than normal in during this interview, as if he was searching for a way to categorize last season. And this may not be a bad thing.
“I learned a lot. That’s the main thing. … Getting that first full year of experience, the organization sticking with me, allowing me to go through that, and experience that failure; I learned a lot from last year.”
Failure. I said it last year regarding Michael Kopech‘s development and generally believe that many of these prospects have to fail before they can succeed in the big leagues.
When asked what fans can expect to see in 2019, Giolito answered with the following:
“Fans can expect to see a much more consistent Lucas Giolito. I know that I have the stuff to be extremely successful in this league. No denying that. When I’m on time, when I’m executing pitches I can get guys out. I can go deep into a game. I’ve done it before, I just haven’t done it enough. I haven’t done it often enough. You’ll see the pitcher that I know I am on a much more consistent basis.”
Hallelujah! Praise Jesus! Bring on the consistency. Anything but the league-leading 118 earned runs behind a 6.13 earned run average. Oh, and let’s cut back on the league-leading 90 walks as well, mmkay?
Giolito is going to be fine. He has electrifying stuff. He just has to learn how to harness it.
