On Tuesday, only one opponent bested the Washington Nationals‘ Lucas Giolito in his hotly anticipated MLB debut: Mother Nature.
First, rain delayed the 21-year-old right-hander’s start against Matt Harvey and the New York Mets at Nationals Park by nearly an hour.
When he finally took the hill, Giolito surrendered a leadoff single to Curtis Granderson and then proceeded to retire 11 of the next 13 hitters he faced.
By the time the clouds opened again, interrupted the action for another hour-plus and prematurely washed out Giolito’s evening, he’d recorded four scoreless, one-hit innings with a strikeout and two walks.
Most impressively, Giolito needed just 45 pitches—29 of them strikes—to get through those four frames. Maybe he was about to wear down. Maybe he’d have coughed up a crooked number if the game had continued and changed the result of a 5-0 Nats victory that moved them five games ahead of New York in the National League East.
He sure didn’t look like it, though.
Working quickly and betraying little emotion, Giolito sat in the mid-90s with his fastball and complemented the heater with a plus curveball and surprisingly effective changeup.
If you’d like some visual evidence, here’s his first big league punchout, courtesy of MLB:
His command rarely faltered. If you’d stumbled upon the game without knowing the backstory, you might have assumed—understandably—this kid had been in The Show all season.
The backstory, however, was nearly impossible to avoid.
Washington’s No. 1 prospect, according to Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter, and the No. 1 prospect in the game, according to MLB.com, Giolito got the call after Stephen Strasburg went on the disabled list with an upper-back strain.
So not only was the 2012 first-round pick toeing an MLB rubber for the first time, he was temporarily filling the cleats of a former phenom and one of the Nationals’ most important players.
No pressure.
Again, if Giolito felt the weight of expectations, he didn’t show it. The Mets hit some balls hard, but his defense backed him up. Second baseman Daniel Murphy made a particularly slick play in the first on Neil Walker’s ground ball with Granderson in scoring position that likely saved a run.
That’s how you enjoy success at the highest level: Trust your stuff and trust your teammates.
The road hasn’t always been easy for Giolito, who underwent Tommy John surgery in August 2012—barely two weeks after he made his pro debut in the Florida Gulf Coast League.
Like so many power pitchers before him—including Strasburg and Harvey—he came back strong. He posted a 1.96 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 36.2 innings between Rookie and Low-A ball in 2013 and rose through the system, reaching Double-A Harrisburg in 2015 and starting this season there.
Harrisburg Senators pitching coach Chris Michalak tweaked Giolito’s delivery in the spring, according to ESPN’s Keith Law, but it produced less than stellar results.
“Fortunately,” Law noted in May, “there doesn’t appear to be any lasting damage to Giolito’s stuff or arm—just a delay in his arrival in the big leagues.”
Now, the delay is over.
“For being 21 years old, he shows a lot of maturity being here,” veteran right-hander Max Scherzer said in March, per Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post. “He’s got a sense of humor, so he’ll blend in well with the clubhouse. He seems interested in learning the game and trying to think on the next level.”
Speaking of which, it’s worth wondering if Giolito will stick in the rotation. Strasburg, who was put on the DL retroactive to June 16, threw a bullpen session Tuesday, per the Associated Press (via ESPN), and could be back sooner than later.
Tanner Roark is ensconced, along with Scherzer and Strasburg, and Joe Ross is 7-4 with 3.30 ERA in 90 innings. Left-hander Gio Gonzalez has struggled, losing his last six decisions and watching his ERA balloon to 4.73. But it’s tough to imagine Washington bumping the two-time All-Star.
More likely, Giolito will head back to the minors for more seasoning when Strasburg is ready. Will the California native be back? Undoubtedly.
Will he build on Tuesday’s rain-shortened tease and blossom into an ace-level talent?
“He’s a prospect,” Nationals manager Dusty Baker said prior to Giolito’s maiden outing, per the Washington Post‘s Jorge Castillo. “You know how many prospects I’ve seen? Some work, some don’t, but we’re trying to ward off the Mets. My son’s really excited to see ‘his boy Giolito,’ as he said.”
Despite Mother Nature’s best efforts, Giolito delivered.
All statistics accurate as of June 28 and courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.
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