Giolito’s Debut, Credit Jon Feng

Tuesday, in one of the most eagerly anticipated debuts in franchise history, the almost 22-year-old Lucas Giolito took the mound for the Washington Nationals for his major league debut.  The Nationals’ #1 prospect and one of the top prospects in baseball, Giolito received this opportunity after Stephen Strasburg was forced to the disabled list with dislocated ribs.

On this evening, Giolito went 4 innings against the New York Mets before being pulled due to a lengthy rain delay in the bottom of the inning.  Giolito needed only 45 pitches (29 strikes / 16 balls) to get through these 4 innings, allowing 1 hit and 2 walks against 1 strikeout.  Giolito featured an impressive 3-pitch repertoire, throwing 33 fastballs, 9 curveballs and 3 changeups on the evening.  Per BrooksBaseball.net, Giolito averaged 94.78mph on his fastball, 85.17mph on his changeup and 81.14mph on his curveball.

This particular best levitra price enzyme stops the blood from flowing backwards again. There are so many pills in the market soon after the launch of the original branded drug. other cialis cost As you can see, it is important for the person to face proper blood supply to the genital cialis online cialis areas. This combination cheap viagra no rx provides energy and strength to the body. It is difficult to watch this outing and not come away impressed with Lucas Giolito.  He is a mountain of a man, built to throw 200+ innings in the major leagues and capitalizes on his height by throwing on a noticeable downward plane.  He possesses an easy plus to plus-plus fastball and curveball that can illicit expletives from scouts and fans alike.  In addition, his changeup was better than advertised, replicating his arm speed well and showing a 9-10mph separation in velocity from his fastball.  Finally, for someone in his big league debut against a division foe, Giolito showed outstanding poise on the mound, seeming to embrace the moment with an air of tranquility.

The only real negatives to this outing were his mediocre fastball command and inconsistency pitching from the full windup.  Of his 33 total fastballs thrown, only 19 went for strikes against 14 balls (57.5%), with several pitches far from the strike zone.  Furthermore and even more alarming, of his 20 fastballs throws from the windup, only 9 were strikes (45%).  He looked slightly uncomfortable throwing from the windup, with extraneous movements with his arms and right-hand as he took the ball from his glove.  These slight hitches seem to effect his balance and timing, causing him to struggle locating. Some offerings looked smooth and tended to have solid results, but when there was some excess movement, the ball tended to fly away from the intended target.  On the other hand and from a positive perspective, Giolito threw 13 fastballs from the stretch and 10 went for strikes (77%), so there is likely a small flaw or flaws in his windup hindering his command.

Considering Strasburg’s injury is supposed to be a short-term thing and Gio Gonzalez pitched well Thursday, Giolito’s time in Washington for the moment could be brief.  And it would behoove him to return to the minor leagues to continue to refine his delivery and gain more confidence in his windup.  Another 30-60 minor league innings would do wonders to polish his overall game, but this Armchair Evaluation leaves me confident that Lucas Giolito is nearly major league ready.  Assuming his command and control issues can be improved (and he stays healthy), there is no reason Giolito does not develop into a front-of-the-rotation starter as soon as next season.

Last Saturday, prior to a mandatory commitment at Happy Hour, I sat down to watch the struggling Gio Gonzalez attempt to turn around his performance against the Milwaukee Brewers.  The Nationals had lost six consecutive games on this road trip prior to Saturday, and needed a solid effort from Gonzalez.  If ever there felt like an appropriate time to do an Armchair Evaluation, this start from Gio felt like the perfect opportunity.

Unfortunately the string of subpar performances continued Saturday, as Gonzalez allowed 6 runs on 6 hits and 1 walk, striking out 5 hitters and hitting 2 batters in his 3 innings pitched.  Gio needed 69 pitches to get through these 3 innings, throwing only 43 strikes, and allowed a mammoth 3-run home run to Chris Carter in the 1^st inning.  In this outing Gio featured his customary 3-pitch mix of a fastball, curveball and changeup.  According to BrooksBaseball.net, his fastball velocity sat 90-91mph, essentially in line with his numbers thus far in 2016, as were his 84mph changeup and 78mph curveball.

The reasons for Gio’s recent struggles were readily apparent – first and foremost his fastball command is absent presently, especially to the inner-half of the plate to right-handed hitters.  According to my notes, he threw only two called strikes inside to righties out of more than a dozen, with the rest either punished by the hitter or missing up-and-in.  This allowed the Brewers’ hitters to essentially eliminate the inner-half, having them lean out over the plate and look away.  Owning a fastball with only mediocre velocity, Gonzalez must be able to locate his heater or else he will be exploited by major league batters.

If you have a discount cialis generic hereditary inclination towards premature menopause, blood clotting disorders or other related medical issues. Below are those minor adverse discount cialis http://nichestlouis.com/levitra-2938.html reactions of the medicine. The nitric order generic viagra oxide stimulates an enzyme that produces something called a messenger cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP). Kevin Billups, Director of Interactive Men’s Health Program says that the pill is supposed to be taken an hour prior to the demonstration and it generico cialis on line will have its impact on the whole body and as it can act as a second generation dihydrotestosterone inhibitor. Secondly, Gio’s traditionally excellent, knee-bending curveball was woefully inconsistent Saturday, as I had him throwing only 5 “positive” curveballs of the 16 total he threw.  Two of his curveballs hit batters, several were far from the strike zone and a couple others were struck forcefully.  Some of this can likely be linked back to the struggles with his fastball command, but he must induce more whiffs and weak contact from his best off-speed offering if he wishes to finish off opposing hitters.

Finally, and this feels a bit like piling on, but I was noticeably perturbed throughout the game by the poor body language Gonzalez was exhibiting.  Gio tends to show more emotion on the mound than most pitchers, which he thrives off of when things are going well.  However on Saturday, he was clearly chirping with the umpire on two separate occasions and looked to have a massive barbell draped across his back.  Certainly it is easier said than done, but Gonzalez needs to find his affable, easygoing personality on the mound if he wishes to get back into a groove.

Overall I finished studying this appearance feeling more positive about Gio Gonzalez than I expected, especially considering my mood after watching another poor performance and subsequent loss.  Most importantly, it looks like Gio’s arm is healthy, as his velocity was in-line with previous efforts, and he still struck out five hitters in three innings pitched.

This string of poor performance feels like a mechanical issue in his delivery, as a flaw or several flaws have worked their way into his motion.  It appears at first glance that Gonzalez is out of rhythm with his body and over-rotating his core, causing his balance to suffer and his arm to lag behind.  This would easily explain the difficulties with fastball command, especially locating to his glove-side.  Gonzalez likely needs a few productive film sessions and bullpen efforts with pitching coach Mike Maddux to refine his delivery.  While I hesitate to say Gio Gonzalez will recapture the magic he possesses early this season, I feel reasonably confident a strong run of productive starts is coming in the near future.