Same Old Same Old

Lucas Giolito got rocked, again, and took himself to task, again. After giving up seven runs on eleven hits over five innings of a 9-5 loss to the Blue Jays yesterday afternoon, the White Sox righthander admitted to being “pretty brutal” over his last five starts. Truer words were never spoken. Giolito’s ERA has ballooned to 5.40, with no sign it’ll be going down anytime soon. If he’s to be believed, Gioltio throws great in the bullpen, which, last time I checked, doesn’t count. Meanwhile, pitching coach Ethan Katz is employing all the tech in his arsenal to measure the speed and spin on the pitches his star pupil throws. Here’s a question: If the metrics show Giolito’s speed and spin rates are down, why start him, given the likely results? Giolito’s WHIP for the season stands at a distressing 1.56, worse even than in 2018, when it was 1.48. The respective ERAs for those two seasons are also kind of similar, 6.13 then and 5.40 now. Giolito keeps talking about his mechanics, if only if some guys with wrenches could fix him. Not likely. What impressed me most about the then 23-year old when I first watched him back in 2017 was how effectively he pitched up in the zone, lots of letter-high strikes and outs made. That has definitely gone by the wayside. These days, Giolito is depending on his changeup way too much. Without location, it’s a contributing factor to that rising WHIP. The solution is two-fold, both physical and mental. First, find out if he’s hurt; that could be a reason for diminished velocity. If that’s not the problem, bring out the tech to see which delivery tweaks will lead to the best fastball possible. Once that happens, Giolito needs to go back to pitching up in the zone because that’s where the outs are for him. I hesitate to say that this product of Southern-California privilege thinks too much, so I’ll just say he over-analyzes instead. Tomato, tomahto, either way all the mechanical changes and all the good bullpen sessions in the world won’t matter one bit until Giolito focuses on the approach that’s been the key to his success. Let me put it another way—I think the man is his own worst enemy. That needs to change, and fast.