Ive been thinking about this a lot lately, top prospect Lucas Giolito, is he ready for the MLB? I will answer this question for you.
Lucas Giolito-
In my opinion Lucas Giolito is going to be the next top prospects who never turns into what he is supposed to be. This is a pretty hot take considered how Giolito is one of the top prospects in baseball. Giolito has pitched in 4 games this year with a total of 16 innings. Lets just stop right here for a second. If a pitcher averages 4 innings per start, then he shouldn't be in the majors. And because of Giolito being a top prospect he is supposed to perform. In his last start yesterday, Giolito went 5 innings while letting up 4 earned runs striking out 2 and walking 2. One of the main reasons why a pitcher can have a successful game is because of him having a majority of first pitch strikes. Giolito had 10 first pitch strikes out of 23. That's about 44% first pitch strikes. Back in 2009 Baseball Prospectus calculated the statistic of those with the best and worst first pitch strike % in the MLB with a minimum of 100 IP. Andrew Miller had the least amount of first pitch strikes and it was at 51.2%. I know Giolito is young. I know it's not a big enough sample size. But if you are predicted to be one of the top pitching prospects, you should know how to throw strikes, first pitch strikes. What I've never understood with prospects is, if a player can locate the strike zone in Triple-A, then they should be able to locate in the MLB too. The strike zone doesn't change. It's just a higher quality of play. Giolito has the most upside as anyone in baseball right now but his tools seem raw. He seems to be nervous while pitching and tenative. The scouting report on Giolito is that he has the best swing and miss stuff as any prospect. With only 8 swing and miss strikes out of 100 pitches yesterday, it makes me wonder. He seems to not be ready to pitch in the show yet. PSA to the Nationals, put Lucas Giolito back in Triple-A or let him work through his struggles. If this continues consistently the way it has in the first 4 games then he will not be successful. For the Nationals and Giolito's sake, I hope he makes it through the struggle but I have a strong feeling he won't. Kind of reminds me of Andrew Cashner back in the day.
(Baseball Prospectus and Rotowire)
@belsner133
Lucas Giolito-
In my opinion Lucas Giolito is going to be the next top prospects who never turns into what he is supposed to be. This is a pretty hot take considered how Giolito is one of the top prospects in baseball. Giolito has pitched in 4 games this year with a total of 16 innings. Lets just stop right here for a second. If a pitcher averages 4 innings per start, then he shouldn't be in the majors. And because of Giolito being a top prospect he is supposed to perform. In his last start yesterday, Giolito went 5 innings while letting up 4 earned runs striking out 2 and walking 2. One of the main reasons why a pitcher can have a successful game is because of him having a majority of first pitch strikes. Giolito had 10 first pitch strikes out of 23. That's about 44% first pitch strikes. Back in 2009 Baseball Prospectus calculated the statistic of those with the best and worst first pitch strike % in the MLB with a minimum of 100 IP. Andrew Miller had the least amount of first pitch strikes and it was at 51.2%. I know Giolito is young. I know it's not a big enough sample size. But if you are predicted to be one of the top pitching prospects, you should know how to throw strikes, first pitch strikes. What I've never understood with prospects is, if a player can locate the strike zone in Triple-A, then they should be able to locate in the MLB too. The strike zone doesn't change. It's just a higher quality of play. Giolito has the most upside as anyone in baseball right now but his tools seem raw. He seems to be nervous while pitching and tenative. The scouting report on Giolito is that he has the best swing and miss stuff as any prospect. With only 8 swing and miss strikes out of 100 pitches yesterday, it makes me wonder. He seems to not be ready to pitch in the show yet. PSA to the Nationals, put Lucas Giolito back in Triple-A or let him work through his struggles. If this continues consistently the way it has in the first 4 games then he will not be successful. For the Nationals and Giolito's sake, I hope he makes it through the struggle but I have a strong feeling he won't. Kind of reminds me of Andrew Cashner back in the day.
(Baseball Prospectus and Rotowire)
@belsner133