James McCann didn't really want to call Lucas Giolito an ace. But he couldn't really help himself.
"I don’t like throwing around the word ace," McCann said, setting himself up for a classic Seinfeldian "having said that" moment.
Before letting the catcher finish, here's what Giolito did Tuesday night against the visiting Kansas City Royals: He allowed a three-run homer in the first inning, appearing to be heading toward the end of a streak of gems, before retiring 22 of the next 24 batters he faced in an eight-inning, 10-strikeout masterpiece.
All right, James, what was that you were saying?
"I don’t like throwing around the word ace. You need five quality starting pitchers to be successful. But an ace is a guy that when the situation like tonight, he gave up a three-run homer, he holds the team at bay and allows the offense to come back. Tonight we were able to do that. Him helping us getting that momentum by slamming the door and saying enough is enough, that’s the sign of an ace."
Obviously, it's too early to call Giolito an ace. In 2018, his first full season in the major leagues, he was statistically one of the worst pitchers in baseball. He led qualified big leaguers with an ERA north of 6.00 and led the American League with 90 walks. But what he's done so far in 2019 has been perhaps the most encouraging sign for a White Sox team so focused on the future.
Giolito's latest display of brilliance Tuesday night lowered his season ERA to 2.85. His ERA in six starts in the month of May is 1.74. He's a completely different pitcher, which he'll readily admit to. The folks ready to write him off, quick to yank him from the rotation of the future after an obviously miserable 2018 campaign are getting a crash course in how a young player can figure things out and flip a switch.
MLB
In other words, this is the Lucas Giolito everyone always thought they'd see: the 16th overall pick in the draft, the No. 1 pitching prospect in baseball, the centerpiece of the Adam Eaton trade. This is that guy.
"It's been a long road, but I'm happy that I'm able to make the adjustments I need to make mid-game, pitch to pitch," he said Tuesday. "I'm executing pitches. Just what I knew what I had in me somewhere, but I kind of took a long time to figure it out, I guess."
"It was the hope and expectation that he's becoming now," manager Rick Renteria said. "Everyone imagined at some point, scouts who saw him well before we got him and obviously the guys who followed him before. He's done a nice job of growing, maturing and making the adjustments and now executing and going and doing his thing. He's very confident and maturing."
Giolito looks like a completely different pitcher right now, flipping the script from last season, in which he struggled to get out of the opening innings of many starts to now being the White Sox most reliable starting pitcher.
The pitcher, the catcher and the manager keep pointing to that as the biggest difference this season: Giolito isn't letting poor starts rattle him. And Tuesday night's effort was the best example yet. After the three-run homer in the first inning, it was shut-down time. Last year, that never happened. This year, it's an expectation.
"Last year that would have rattled me more," Giolito said. "Whereas now, I know that if I execute my pitches and me and (McCann) are on the same page, we're going through making the right adjustments, then I'm going to be able to get guys out consistently. Just went back to that. I was a little frustrated after the first, but just used that to fuel the rest of the game.
"Last year I was searching a lot. Give up a few runs in the first or second inning and over-analyze, overthink. 'What am I doing wrong?' Now, it's in the past. I gave up a three-run homer in the first, all right. Time to put up zeroes. It's a change in mentality."
That's the easiest difference to notice in Giolito, but it's far from the only one. He's walking way fewer hitters (just one Tuesday) and striking out more of them (a career-high 10 on Tuesday). His velocity is up. He's pitching way, way better and changing the conversation around his present and future.
Of course, it's easy to overreact to this good stretch, just like we might have overreacted to the poor results of his 2018 season. This is a good stretch, and it'll require it to last longer than a month for him to be vaulted into the "ace" conversation McCann dipped his toe into Tuesday. Carlos Rodon had an ace-like stretch like this in 2018, putting up a 1.84 ERA over nine starts. And then came a horrendous final month (a 9.22 ERA over his final six outings) and a 2019 campaign cut short by Tommy John surgery.
But while it's perhaps necessary to take things with a grain of salt, it's also necessary to open your eyes to just how excellent Giolito has been — and how impressive his transformation has been.
It might be too early to call him an ace. But it's not too early to call him this team's best pitcher right now. Is this the real Lucas Giolito? If it is, the White Sox will be very, very happy.
Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the White Sox easily on your device.