Lucas Giolito

On another scorching hot summer afternoon in Washington, Sunday the Nationals sent their top prospect, RHP Lucas Giolito, to the mound to start against the Colorado Rockies.  The 22-year-old Giolito scuffled in three previous starts last month, pitching only 11 innings with a 4.91 ERA and would again be challenged against one of the top offenses in the National League.

Sunday Giolito pitched 5 innings for Washington, allowing 4 earned runs on 6 hits and 2 walks against 2 strikeouts.  Giolito threw 100 pitches (64 strikes / 36 balls) in this outing, generating 5 ground outs against 4 fly outs, plus two home runs.  According to BrooksBaseball.net Giolito averaged 94.18mph on his fastball, 81.41mph on his curveball and 84.81mph on his changeup.  By my notes, he threw a total of 71 fastballs, 16 curveballs and 13 changeups.

From a scouting perspective, Giolito’s fastball showed plus velocity and he has the ability to both sink the ball and have it run arm-side.  Unfortunately he struggled both commanding and controlling the strike zone, throwing 1^st pitch strikes to only 9 of the 22 hitters he faced.  In addition, he missed his target regularly and left the ball in the middle of the plate, while also struggling to get his fastball low in the strike zone.  Besides the two home runs, many other fastballs were punished for long outs.  In recent years Giolito has scuffled locating his fastball and this outing did nothing to quell these concerns.

Also, although it comes with the reputation as one of the top pitches in the minor leagues, Giolito struggled with his curveball and had inconsistent results.  The first 2 innings Giolito threw 7 curves, of which only 1 was a quality offering; conversely, he found the feel in the 3^rd inning, making 8 fairly consistently good pitches the last 3 innings.  My only complaint would be he should throw it more often, especially with 2 strikes, and have the confidence it will get big league hitters out.

Perhaps the biggest positive from this appearance was Giolito’s changeup, which flashed excellent arm-side run and split-finger type movement.  Of the 13 he threw, 3 induced pure whiffs and a couple others generated weak contact from batters.  It was an easy “55” or better pitch.  Giolito only threw 3 changeups to righties on Sunday, something I would encourage him to do more so going forward.

Peripheral neuropathy Peripheral neuropathy is viagra online india the most noticeable problem that men will concentrate on treating erectile brokenness. Mind you, back then I never expected to ever receive emails from someone pretending to be me, selling me super active tadalafil http://mouthsofthesouth.com/cialis-2983! There are plenty of unscruplous people around who will try to adopt your identity in order to get what you request and pay less for every last bit of it than you would to enjoy sustained erection, improved sexual stamina and performance, increased sexual appetite, and. Easy going laid back life style, nutritious prices levitra diet are a remedy for high cholesterol. The sick muscles then become active and get Our store viagra overnight canada easily erected. In terms of mechanics, Giolito seems to be making a noticeable effort to quiet his arms and upper body during his delivery, something I noticed in his debut last month.  Additionally, he seems to have simplified the early part of his windup, using what looks like a shorter first step off the rubber.  I cannot find adequate video from last month to confirm this, so take it with a grain of salt.  However, there is little question he is attempting to quiet his delivery, likely in a direct effort to improve his fastball command.

Giolito’s Debut, Credit Jon Feng

Overall this start highlighted the biggest present weakness in Giolito’s arsenal, namely his fastball command and control.  He struggled keeping his fastball in the lower-third of the strike zone, continually locating the pitch above the hitters’ belt.  Additionally, he had difficulties throwing his fastball on the inner third, leaving several pitches in the heart of the plate.  As a result, this forced Giolito to primarily throw the ball away on the outer-third later in the outing.  As mentioned above, he struggled getting ahead in the count, and by falling behind, this allowed the opposing batters’ to get comfortable in the box and lean out across the plate.  He must improve his ability to work the corners and avoid the middle of the plate if he wants to be successful in the major leagues.

One other area of concern is Giolito’s inability to miss bats, as his 2 strikeouts and 8 total whiffs indicate.  He has excellent stuff and should be producing a much larger number of whiffs – perhaps much of this is attributable to his lack of 1^st pitch strikes and fastball command, but someone with 3 plus or better pitches should be generating nearly double the swings-and-misses.

Finally I finish analyzing this start primarily with the reminders that the transition from the minors to the majors is extremely difficult, and the importance of fastball command.  Giolito can get minor league hitters out even pitching in the middle of the plate due to his impressive arsenal, yet major leaguers will punish mistakes like these.  One must remember that although the repertoire is major league quality, Giolito has thrown only thrown 377 professional innings and still needs to improve his weaknesses.

If he continues to refine his delivery and command the strike zone while gaining confidence in his pitches, Giolito profiles as a potential #2 starter in the near future.  Giolito reaching his enormous potential almost exclusively rides on if he can improve his fastball command.  Assuming he stays healthy, I expect improvement with Giolito in 2017 and a breakout for him in 2018.  Be patient as Giolito is Chance the Rapper 5 years ago.

Saturday afternoon, the Washington Nationals sent RHP A.J. Cole to the mound for his 2^nd start of 2016 against the Colorado Rockies at Nationals Park.  After several poor outings in 2015, Cole pitched well Monday in an emergency start against Baltimore, earning a 2^nd opportunity.

On a hot, humid afternoon, Cole pitched 5.2 innings for the Nationals, allowing 3 earned runs on 4 hits and 3 walks against 4 strikeouts.  Cole needed 112 pitches (71 strikes and 41 balls) to capture his 17 outs, and generally performed better than his statistics might otherwise indicate.

According to BrooksBaseball.net, Cole average 91.98mph on his fastball, 84.34mph on the changeup, 83.07mph on the slider and 75.43mph with the curveball.  His heater has impressive late life and induced several whiffs – he also showed an ability to both cut and sink the fastball at times.  He throws his slider almost exclusively to righties and the pitch features good, late break resembling a cutter.  Furthermore Cole utilizes his curveball primarily against lefties and while the pitch can show good 12-6 movement, he often hangs it in the middle of the plate.  Finally Cole threw only a couple firm changeups against the Rockies, showing little confidence or feel for the pitch.

After analyzing Cole’s outing, I observed several clear positives and negatives.

The Positives

1)            Strikeouts & Whiffs

Sure the sample size is small, but after striking out 8 Orioles on Monday, Cole followed it up by striking out 4 hitters in 5.2 innings Saturday and producing 12+ whiffs.  His fastball does not show high-end velocity, but he is missing major league bats at a healthy rate.  Cole needs to improve his command, but he should gain confidence from this success thus far with the fastball.

2)            Mechanics

Cole seems to have improved and refined his mechanics this season at Triple-A, as he appears to be standing noticeably taller on the mound and making an effort to get better extension toward home plate.  Perhaps this improved extension helps explain the impressive whiff total with his fastball.

In addition, his tempo toward home seems more consistent and streamlined, allowing him to stay more in line towards his target.  Cole still struggled with his location, although some of that can be attributed to the adrenaline rush of a young pitcher.  However, if these mechanical adjustments are permanent, he should find more success in the future limiting his walks and throwing better quality strikes.

3)            Slider
sildenafil rx Use the above mentioned two of the capsules to increase the sexual endurance. Key ingredients in Maha Rasayan capsules are Vidarikand, Bang Bhasma, Ramayphal, Lauh Bhasma, Kaunch, Ashwagandha, Safed Musli, Shatavari, Shilajit Sudh, Kali Musli, Abhrak Bhasma and Ras Sindoor Bhasma. tablet viagra Selecting commander cialis the best product from a list of hundreds of product may not be an easy task for all. Lubricants: As the name suggests, the lubricants assist in lubricating the vagina in order to buy tadalafil in australia make the sex enjoyable and easier for the women.
The major weakness in Cole’s profile has always been his breaking ball and finding comfort throwing either his curveball or slider.  As an amateur his slider was the superior pitch, although scouts have graded his curveball better in recent years.  Since returning to the majors, Cole’s slider looks much sharper than before, with late break and cutter-like movement.  He still does not throw it for enough strikes, but it has improved enough to be a “45/50” quality pitch.

Negatives

1)            The Changeup

Often rated early in his career as his best off-speed offering, Cole threw less than 5 total changeups in this outing, becoming essentially a two-pitch pitcher (Fastball/Slider to RHBs) and (Fastball/Curveball to LHBs).  Only a rare few can be successful starting pitchers without a changeup, so Cole will need to gain confidence in this pitch going forward.

2)            Curveball vs. Slider

As mentioned above, Cole seems to primarily feature his curveball against left-handed hitters, which Colorado has in abundance.  Unfortunately, I do not think his curveball is particularly good, grading as below-average for me.  However, his slider has improved in the past couple seasons and looks to be at least an average offering since his return to the majors.  I would like to see him lean more heavily on his slider going forward and use his curveball as a “show-me” pitch to keep hitters off-balance.

3)            Fastball Location

Finally, Cole struggled locating his fastball on the inner-third of the plate, especially to left-handed hitters.  Either he would misfire and throw it well inside for an obvious ball, or he would miss his location and leave it in the middle of the plate.  When he did hit an inside target, he was able to produce several meek ground outs and infield pop flys.

Despite only mediocre results, I am impressed with what I have seen from A.J. Cole so far in 2016.  While he will not reach the #2/#3 starter profile I labeled him in high school, I feel confident Cole will be a major leaguer for several years.  Presently Cole possesses a “50/55” fastball, a “45/50” slider and a “40” curveball and changeup.  I have seen both the curve and cambio better in the past, particularly the changeup, which I previously graded a “50″.  Cole has an above-average fastball, along with two potentially average off-speed pitches, allowing him to project as a #5 starter or a low-leverage reliever.

Unless he is used as a trade chip this winter, I foresee Cole as a member of the 2017 Nationals’ pitching staff, possibly usurping Yusmeiro Petit from his role as long reliever and emergency starting pitcher.  In another organization, I could envision Cole acting as a serviceable back-end starting pitcher, especially in the National League.  However, if he remains in Washington, his most likely role will be in relief, with his ability to pitch multiple innings and limit walks making him a valuable swingman.