Author Topic: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP  (Read 141532 times)

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Online JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #500: August 22, 2013, 02:42:43 PM »
well, that one was on South Park on basic cable so it is OK.  Any old clips of howard stern or monty python are also OK.

Online Smithian

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #501: August 22, 2013, 02:57:21 PM »
Please, be careful in the non-uncensored threads about NSFW pics.

Offline comish4lif

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #502: August 23, 2013, 11:29:56 AM »
Please, be careful in the non-uncensored threads about NSFW pics.
Yeah, what do you think this is? BPG?

Offline GburgNatsFan

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Offline hammondsnats

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #504: August 23, 2013, 05:26:03 PM »
haha :gunz: nice work :clap:

Offline irishnat

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #505: August 24, 2013, 07:46:18 PM »
Sounds like he's going to be an ace. And sooner rather than later.

http://hardballscouting.com/2013/08/23/scouting-report-lucas-giolito/


Twitter Scouting Report: Classic power pitcher with polish. Some mechanical red flags, but special combo of stuff and command.

Overview

Giolito entered his senior season of high school as the consensus top prospect in the 2012 draft class. Earned the moniker “Ex Lax”, presumably because of the effect he had on even the best high school hitters. Giolito missed all of his senior season rehabbing his elbow, and slipped all the way to no. 16, where the Nationals nabbed him and signed him away from a hard commitment to UCLA. The Harvard Westlake product had Tommy John as last season came to a close, and began working his way back this year in the Gulf Coast League. He’s missed a ton of bats and the Nationals have stretched him out to five innings, so it’s been a huge developmental year for Ex Lax.

Stuff

Giolito’s four-seam fastball features plus-plus velocity and exceptional downhill plane. He gets on top of it and pounds it to both sides of the plate. It sat 94-96 when I saw him, and there was a phantom 98 on my gun in one inning, which may have been real. I’ve spoken to people who have seen him dial it up to 100 this season, so the 98 I saw may have been real. Giolito has plus fastball command, knowing which spots to hit and how to hit them. This is a legitimate 70-grade pitch.

His power curveball has 70-grade potential as well. He will elevate his arm slot and pronate the forearm on it, and the pitch will flash plus-plus depth. Giolito’s curve is consistently tight, and will show legitimate 7 bite. This is another pitch that he commands extremely well, and he is never afraid to throw it. In the above video, he backdoors a left-handed hitter with a deep curveball. Sitting in the low-to-mid-80s, it’s at least a Major League average pitch right now.

The changeup is Giolito’s worst pitch, and it has plus potential. He knows how to throw it, allowing his grip and the drag of his back side to do most of the work for him. His arm is a little slower when he throws it, but not blatantly slow. He showed one filthy, drop-off-the-table changeup that began belt high then clipped the bottom third of the zone against a left-handed hitter. It has some fade to it, but it’s really a deceptive pitch that moves late, and works extremely well with his other weapons. The pitch worked in the 83-84 range.

Giolito established the changeup earlier in counts the second time through the order, knowing that hitters were looking for a 96-mph heater. Down the line, he should be able to get creative with his mix of the curveball and changeup following his fastball. The package of stuff is absolutely filthy, and the command of every offering is what really impressed me.

Mechanics

Giolito’s mechanics are a legitimate concern. He does a lot of things well, mostly using his lower half, getting his back side through most of the time. Giolito keeps his stride closed and leans heavily onto his front foot after strike. This screws up his posture, but does allow him to get a higher release point and more plane on the ball.

Unless he makes drastic changes, he’s going to need a much stronger pair of legs underneath him. He’s got very poor balance with his front side, and this often leads to him falling off to his left after his back side comes through.

There’s not a ton of momentum into foot strike, but he does generate some positive hip torque as he lifts his front leg. There’s some momentum there, but room for much more.

His arm action is incredible fast, but also very long, with a lot of strain put on his shoulder. He pulls his arm back all the way then flings it through with insane arm speed. As he does this he jerks his torso and head down pretty violently.

His issues are fixable, but may not be worth fixing. The pure stuff is exceptional, as is his command and his control. “Fixing” Giolito could mean ruining Giolito.

Grades: Present/Future

Fastball: 60/70

Curveball: 55/70

Changeup: 40/60

Command: 60/70

OFP: 65

Role: Very good no. 2 starter for a first division team. Consistent All-Star.

Online JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #506: August 24, 2013, 09:54:44 PM »
Ex lax could be one of the great nicknames.

Offline Mr Clean

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #507: August 28, 2013, 06:23:17 PM »
Today:  5 IP   4 hits  0 runs  1 bb   5 Ks

Offline welch

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #508: August 28, 2013, 07:17:50 PM »
Wow!

I was talking with the team store managher at Harrisburg, and mentioned that Robbie Ray and AJ Cole are not the only prospects in the organization. She is very impressed with Cole, by the way. (Same person told me in 2011 that Bryce Harper was a good kid, a great ballplayer, and fearless when tracking a flyball near the wall.)

She had already heard of Little Gio, but was astonished when I said that he might be the next Strasburg.

The scouting report hints, at least, that I might have guessed right.

Offline PatsNats28

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #509: September 02, 2013, 07:39:47 PM »
A freshman on my hall this year is good friends with Lucas Giolito... he hit a home run off of him in 9th grade too. Now I'm getting to the point where I'm as old/older than ballplayers... this is weird.

Offline tomterp

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #510: September 03, 2013, 09:26:43 AM »
FYI, I moved the Liberal arts college discussion to the Red Loft.

Offline sportsfan882

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #511: September 03, 2013, 09:20:10 PM »
final start of the season: 4 IP 3 H 1 ER 3 BB 5 K

Offline welch

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #512: September 04, 2013, 12:18:00 AM »
final start of the season: 4 IP 3 H 1 ER 3 BB 5 K

Wrap it up and wait for next season.

Offline comish4lif

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #513: September 05, 2013, 08:35:06 AM »
From BP this AM:

Quote
Nationals Short-Season RHP Lucas Giolito: “Big, strong kid with surprising coordination for his size. Power arm has returned to form with velocity hitting 94-98 but not with a ton of movement. Seems to be on his way to a full recovery from Tommy John surgery but needs to regain his ability to pitch. Right now he’s just a thrower. That’s not very surprising, though. Curve and change have big-league potential, but he needs to regain his feel for those pitches. Still, he’s extremely athletic and only 19, so there’s plenty of time.”

Offline daggerrrrrr

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #514: November 20, 2013, 01:22:49 PM »
Pipeline Perspectives: Giolito ready to climb
Nats' 2012 first-rounder ahead of Orioles' Bundy in return from Tommy John surgery
By Jonathan Mayo

Once upon a time, pitchers would undergo elbow surgery and teams would hold their breath and hope that once-promising arms would eventually bounce back.

Today, that sounds like a fable, a tale our elders tell about how rough life was "back in the day." Now, it seems that the rule is that pitchers not only come back, but come back quickly. It is a rare exception when a pitcher doesn't return from Tommy John surgery.

It's with that context that Jim Callis and I tackle this week's Pipeline Perspectives: Which young Tommy John recipient do we feel most optimistic about regarding long-term Major League success? While Jim is going with the Orioles' Dylan Bundy, I'm arguing the case for Lucas Giolito of the Nationals.

The best high school pitchers in back-to-back Drafts, the two are at different points in their recoveries. Bundy had his surgery in late June of this year. Giolito went under the knife in August 2012 and returned to competitive pitching this summer.

But this isn't really about who is going to be pitching first. And truth be told, it's probably safe to assume that Jim and I believe both Bundy and Giolito will go on to have the kinds of careers many envisioned when they came out of the 2011 and 2012 Drafts, respectively. But while Bundy already made a beeline up to the big leagues, pitching in two games in September 2012, I believe Giolito is poised to start his own climb.

The big right-hander from Southern California, ranked No. 69 on MLB.com's Top 100 Prospects list, came back and pitched exceptionally well in 11 well-monitored outings spanning 36 2/3 innings, throwing first in the Gulf Coast League and then in the short-season New York-Penn League. Giolito kept going in instructional league play and looks ready to take full-season ball by storm in 2014.

"He's doing great in all phases," Nationals farm director Doug Harris said. "He had a terrific instructional league. The biggest things in instructs were fundamentals, like holding runners and fielding his position. His changeup grew significantly. At the start, the separation [between his changeup and fastball] wasn't where we wanted it to be. By the end, it was 12, 13 miles per hour, and he was throwing it for strikes."

That could be a huge difference-maker. The argument for Bundy might be his overall pitchability, but if Giolito's offspeed stuff has improved that much in such a short time, it will really give him a chance to pitch at or near the top of the Nats' rotation one day, alongside or right behind Stephen Strasburg.

That's because Giolito's other stuff is already other-worldly, and is already snapping back to pre-injury quality. He'll throw his fastball anywhere from 93-100 mph, adding and subtracting as needed. Giolito is 6-foot-6, so he throws it from a tremendous angle. He's able to get swings and misses up in the zone, but he also can bury a fastball down in the zone for strikes, making it unique beyond just pure velocity.

Giolito's breaking ball is plus, too. And now that he's on a mound and back to developing normally, it's getting better and better.

"The breaking ball is as good as you want to see," Harris said. "I know that's a bold statement. It's a legitimate swing-and-miss power curve. He's learning to repeat it and throw it for strikes."

Behind rehabilitation coach Mark Grater and pitching coordinator Spin Williams, the Nationals believe they have as good a rehab program and staff as any team in baseball. So it didn't surprise them internally that they were able to see what Giolito was capable of so quickly this summer. Add in a maturity that belies his 19 years and no one doubts, myself included, that he is ready to start fulfilling the immense potential that made many think he could have been the first high school right-hander to ever be drafted No. 1 overall before his elbow shelved him during his senior year of high school. Giolito ended up going at No. 16.

"He's an extremely mature young man and he's a really hard worker. That combination allows you to speed up the curve a little bit," Harris said. "He's going to have an opportunity to compete at the next level next year. Where he goes, we'll see. We're going to use the same course we've used with other pitchers. His innings, like with any young pitchers, we will have parameters. But we expect him to pitch a full season."

Once Giolito gets through that, the gloves should start to come off and the vision of seeing him carving up National League hitters will come into much sharper focus.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/was/pipeline-perspectives-nationals-lucas-giolito-ahead-of-orioles-dylan-bundy?ymd=20131119&content_id=64034600&vkey=news_was

Offline wpa2629

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #515: December 16, 2013, 07:24:52 PM »
 ... By this time next year, Lucas Giolito, the Nationals’ first pick in 2012, could very well be a top 5 prospect in all of baseball. Inside and outside the Nationals, people say the only thing keeping him from that kind of perception within the industry right now is game experience. If he shows the same kind of stuff he showed in limited action this year over a full season at, say, Hagerstown and Potomac, Giolito will be a prospect darling. He won’t have the same hype as Stephen Strasburg, but people in the game will view his talent as a prospect similarly. Giolito has already undergone Tommy John surgery, but he won’t turn 20 until July and he has a triple-digits fastball and a power slider that scouts say would be elite in the majors right now. “A monster,” one executive said; “a beast,” one scout said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/nationals-journal/wp/2013/12/16/leftovers-from-the-nationals-winter-meetings/

Offline Natsinpwc

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #516: December 17, 2013, 10:08:53 AM »
Looking forward to seeing him at Potomac this year but think he will be at Double A before long.

Offline RD

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #517: December 17, 2013, 11:25:54 AM »
Looking forward to seeing him at Potomac this year but think he will be at Double A before long.


He's not hitting Harrisburg this year. Hell start in low A and br on an innings limit. Could hit Potomac at some point but they aren't gping to rush him.

Offline Natsinpwc

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #518: December 17, 2013, 02:11:24 PM »
ok, we shall see I guess.


Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #519: December 17, 2013, 02:13:25 PM »
BA has his ETA at 2016. If he spends next year splitting time between low and high A then AA and AFL the year after, that works for me

Offline Mr Clean

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #520: January 08, 2014, 02:30:23 PM »
Byron Kerr tweets he will start 2014 at Hagerstown.

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #521: January 08, 2014, 03:01:00 PM »
Byron Kerr tweets he will start 2014 at Hagerstown.

makes sense, then get promoted to Potomac at some point if all goes well.  So 2015 probably starts at Harrisburg and makes it to the majors at some point for a look.

Offline blue911

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #522: January 08, 2014, 03:04:36 PM »
makes sense, then get promoted to Potomac at some point if all goes well.  So 2015 probably starts at Harrisburg and makes it to the majors at some point for a look.

Probably mid July if Rizzo holds to form.

Online Slateman

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #523: January 10, 2014, 12:12:12 PM »
Seriously, there is no reason to rush this guy. Our rotation is set for at least 2 years. And even then, we have guys like AJ Cole and Taylor Jordan who are closer to being ready.

Offline NJ Ave

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Lucas Giolito, RHP
« Reply #524: January 10, 2014, 12:47:18 PM »
I bet there is ZERO chance he sees the majors in 2015. ZERO.

He won't even be at a 200-inning limit until 2016, so you're talking about calling him up with maybe 300 innings total in the minor leagues, as a HS pitcher coming off TJ surgery?

Jameson Taillon is at 382.
Zach Wheeler is at 391.
Jacob Turner finished with 414.
Jarrod Parker with 366.
Madison Bumgarner with 355.