Lucas Giolito is trying to return to kind following elbow surgical procedure that price him all of final 12 months. Now 30 years outdated and in his first season on mound with the Boston Crimson Sox, Giolito has made a pair of begins — one stable, one other squalid — through which he has surrendered 15 hits and 9 runs over 9 2/3 innings. At his greatest, he’s been a top-of-the-rotation pitcher. From 2019-2021, the 6-foot-6 right-hander usual a 3.47 ERA and a 3.54 FIP whereas making a team-high 72 begins for the Chicago White Sox.
Flip the clock again 10 years, and Giolito sat atop our 2015 Washington Nationals Prime Prospects record. Our then-lead prospect analyst Kiley McDaniel was understandably bullish about Giolito, writing that the 2012 first-round draft choose had true no. 1 upside.
What did Giolito’s FanGraphs scouting report appear like on the time? Furthermore, what does he give it some thought all these years later? Wanting to seek out out, I shared a few of what McDaniel wrote and requested Giolito to reply to it.
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“Giolito was nationally recognized by scouts all the way in which again to when he hit 95 mph at age 15.”
“I all the time threw laborious,” Giolito stated. “I used to be one of many hardest throwers in Little League and every thing like that. I began lengthy tossing loads across the time I bought to highschool, and simply stored constructing and constructing. I believe I hit 90 after I was 14, after which 95 perhaps nearer to my sixteenth birthday. So yeah, it stored going up till I blew my elbow out.
“Most likely,” Giolito responded when requested if the speed was an excessive amount of, too early. “There wasn’t an excessive amount of understanding on the medical aspect, like strengthening, stability — all of the stuff that we’re doing now to keep up the little muscle groups, the large muscle groups, to assist your physique when it’s outputting that a lot pressure. I used to be additionally very skinny. My shoulder blades winged out. I didn’t have a lot muscular growth at that age, however I used to be transferring very quick. It will definitely caught as much as me.”
“[He] was within the operating to go 1-1 as one of many high prep pitchers of all time, till he was shut down with a sprained UCL in his elbow. This led to an anticipated Tommy John surgical procedure one outing after he signed for an $800,000 overslot bonus because the sixteenth total choose.”
“I bear in mind having an outing the place I believe the Astros’ GM got here to see me pitch in individual,” Giolito stated. “I pitched rather well that day. I used to be on high of the world. It was like, ‘Oh my God, I may be the first-overall choose if I simply proceed what I’m doing for the remainder of the season.’ It was the following outing, or perhaps two outings later, the place I harm my elbow. I needed to shut down. We didn’t need to do the total TJ but, as a result of we thought that may harm me within the draft. Plus, if I used to be going to get TJ, I wished to be in an expert group the place you get entry to the very best care. I attempted to rehab it.
“Going into the draft, I had no thought,” added Giolito, a product of Harvard-Westlake Excessive Faculty. “I assumed I’d be picked someplace within the first three rounds, {that a} workforce would take a flier on me. I didn’t know I’d be within the first spherical. That was type of the start of the pre-draft-deal period, however I actually was watching the draft on the TV after they stated my title. That was after I came upon I used to be drafted within the first spherical.
“The Nationals picked me. I used to be a prep arm with a blown-out elbow, which is an enormous, large threat. I’ve Stephen Strasburg to thank, as a result of he was an enormous prospect who got here up, blew his elbow out, bought Tommy John, and had a comparatively profitable restoration from that. The Nationals type of noticed me in that very same vein. It was, ‘OK, we’ll get this man. He’ll have TJ, however we really feel assured with this.’”
“The stuff was all the way in which again this 12 months as he dominated Low-A at age 19/20 in his first full 12 months coming off of surgical procedure. The Nationals have been understandably conservative with pitch and innings counts.”
“My first full season again they’d my innings rely at 100,” Giolito recalled. “I bought to 100 innings they usually shut me down, and that sucked, as a result of our workforce was so good. Our beginning rotation consisted of me, Reynaldo López, Nick Pivetta. Austin Voth was within the rotation, however he bought despatched as much as Excessive-A sooner or later that 12 months. We had a very nasty one-two-three with me, Reynaldo, and Nick, however then I bought shut down with a couple of weeks left within the season and needed to be a cheerleader. We ended up shedding within the playoffs.”
“His knockout curveball, which will get 65 or 70 grades from scouts, is his signature offspeed pitch.”
“Not any extra,” replied the righty. “I nonetheless have it, however I don’t throw it as typically. I all the time say that Tommy John gave me my changeup. After I was recovering I messed round with changeup grips loads and located one which was comfy. I threw it loads in that very same season you talked about, that Low-A season. I threw a ton of changeups, as a result of the curveball made my elbow harm that first season again.
“My curveball was good within the minor leagues — I nonetheless used it — however we blended that changeup in loads. Over time, particularly after I developed the slider, the changeup actually grew to become the large pitch for me.”
“He has true no. 1 starter upside.”
“Yeah, I imply, I had that with the White Sox for a few years,” Giolito stated. “I nonetheless believe that I’ve true no. 1 starter upside. I simply have to return again from this factor and develop some good consistency.”
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Earlier “Previous Scouting Reviews Revisited” interviews could be discovered by these hyperlinks: Cody Bellinger, Matthew Boyd, Dylan Stop, Matt Chapman, Erick Fedde, Kyle Freeland, Randal Grichuk, Ian Happ, Jeff Hoffman, Matthew Liberatore, Sean Newcomb, Bailey Ober, Max Scherzer.
