(670 The Score) White Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito was the worst starting pitcher in baseball in 2018. His 0.1 WAR ranked dead last among those with enough innings to qualify, finishing 56th out of 56, according to Fangraphs.com.
The biggest name that came to the White Sox in the trade that sent Adam Eaton to the Nationals in December 2016, Giolito was said at the time of the deal to be fading as a prospect in the eyes of some scouts, with velocity trending down and little in the way of minor league results. The ensuing 2017 season only reinforced that reality, as he posted a 5.46 xFIP that was the worst in baseball by a wide margin. The same could be said for his 1.48 WHIP.
And then he decided to get better at pitching.
Giolito went into the lab in the offseason and re-engineered his body and mind. He used weighted-ball training popularized by Driveline Baseball to rediscover pitch speed, the Core Velocity belt to fine tune his windup and video analysis with his high school pitching coach to radically alter his arm swing to be both more efficient and more deceptive to hitters. He dug into data to inform his selection of pitches and also credited neurofeedback training for uncluttering his thought process while on the mound.
All of this met with a receptive and attentive batterymate in James McCann, and Giolito's career was reborn in 2019. He was just shut down Tuesday for the remainder of the season due to a mild lat strain -- one that brings no long-term concern whatsoever -- and his improvement and what it means to his team are worth noting in detail.
A 2019 American League All-Star, Giolito's 5.1 WAR is currently ninth among all qualified MLB starters. His 11.62 strikeouts-per-nine-innings rate is sixth, his 1.06 WHIP is 12th and his .203 batting average against is sixth.
Giolito scrapped his ineffective sinker and cut away the cutter, relying more on his four-seam fastball combined with a slider and changeup. And his emergence as a top-of-the-rotation starter has changed the way some look at the competitive timeline of the White Sox, seeing that they may have in place perhaps the most difficult piece to develop or one of the most expensive ones to procure.
It's easy to trust someone this smart, self-aware and well-spoken too, especially after watching him work through bumps in the road in this non-linear period of reinvention while competing at the MLB level. It's clear he knows who he is and what he's trying to do.
Giolito's season should be recognized as a historic reclamation of value in the shortest possible time, one driven by notable levels of professional dedication and athletic confidence.
It can help allow the White Sox to think bigger, sooner than once imagined.
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's Bernstein & McKnight Show in midday. You can follow him on Twitter @Dan_Bernstein.
