Giolito Finds His Form In Contract Year With White Sox

As of Tuesday, May 10th, Lucas Giolito looks like the ace of the White Sox pitching staff.

In his contract year, Lucas Giolito seems to have refound the form that earned him an appearance in the 2019 All-Star game. His 3.59 ERA is the lowest amongst all qualified White Sox starters, with the next lowest being Dylan Cease, with a 5.58 mark.

In his last six starts, he has thrown six-plus innings in each of them and logged a quality start in five of them. The only exception was a four-run outing against the Tampa Bay Rays, where he threw seven innings and struck out five.

On Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium, he was back at it despite a lengthy two-hour rain delay before the first pitch. Giolito thinks the delay worked to his advantage.

“I think it was a bonus for me pitching at nine at night because I’m a night owl,” said a smiling Giolito after picking up his second victory of the season. “So, I was right at home.”

The numbers would also suggest that Gioliot indeed likes to burn the midnight oil. In six innings of work, Giolito held the Royals to two runs on five hits, throwing 62 of his 93 pitches for strikes and racking up nine strikeouts.

Giolito is a notoriously lousy day-game pitcher. In 2022 he had a 5.09 ERA in day games compared to his 4.80 ERA in night games. This season he has a 3.86 ERA in day games and a 2.84 ERA in night games.

On Tuesday, his fastball had more pop than usual, topping out at 96.6 mph and averaging 94.3 mph, which is 1.5 mph above his season average.

This comes just days after a report from Bob Nightengale surfaced saying that the White Sox will not be bringing him back in 2024. Giolito had enough incentive heading into a contract year in 2023. If the report is accurate, that adds more fuel to the fire.

“For me, pitching angry can go one way or the other, and tonight we were able to channel that into aggression in the strike zone,” said Giolito, who recorded six swings and misses each on his four-seamer, slider and changeup. “Try to work ahead of guys and just fire it in there. It worked out well.”

The 27-year-old has already shown he can be amongst the game’s best when he is on his game, which is why his early success this season should come as no surprise. He is one of just six pitchers in franchise history to record multiple 200-plus strikeout seasons. In 2021 he recorded the fourth most swings and misses in baseball.

It makes his lackluster 2022 campaign look like an outlier. According to StatCast, he ranks in the top half of the league in strikeout rate, whiff rate, walk rate, expected batting average, hard hit percentage, and expected batting average. His 5.5 walk rate is the lowest it’s been in his entire career, and his stuff looks sharp.

He used that stuff to escape some large jams on Tuesday. In the bottom of the fifth inning, he allowed two leadoff singles before getting Freddy Fermin to swing through a changeup, Jackie Bradley Jr to whiff on a fastball, and Nate Earon to freeze on a fastball down the middle for three strikeouts to end the inning.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, he allowed a leadoff triple to Bobby Witt Jr, then a single to Vinnie Pasquantino, which cut the White Sox lead to 3-2. After striking out Salvador Perez, he walked Maikel Garcia and MJ Melendez to load the bases.

Every game usually comes down to four of five pitches that can swing the momentum one way or the other. It is up to the pitcher to rise to the occasion and make those pitches.

Giolito did just that. He wiggled out of the jam by inducing a Hunter Dozier pop out to short and a Freddy Fermin ground out.

“In that sixth, when we got the bases loaded, he executed. He didn’t miss any spots,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “He was right at the top or just above the zone with the fastballs, kept the breaking balls just below or right at the bottom. He really executed there.”

Despite owning a 13-24 record, the White Sox are just 6.5 games out of first place, with Giolito emerging as their most reliable starter. If this holds up, the White Sox may want to reconsider letting him walk… if he doesn’t price himself out of Chicago.