The Greatness of Giolito
For those who haven’t been paying attention to the ballclub that plays on the South Side of Chicago, in the baddest part of town, there has been a bad bad man that has ascended to the top of the White Sox’ starting rotation, leaving American League hitters flailing in his wake.
That man, is Lucas Giolito.
The 24-year-old hurler has always had promise, and was a highly-ranked prospect after being selected with the 16th overall selection by the Nationals in the 2012 draft. He showed flashes during a seven-start audition with the White Sox in 2016, but entering this season he owned a miserable 5.48 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 6.4 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9 in 240 innings at the big league level.
If you were paying close attention at the end of the 2018 season, there was a slight rise in strikeout rate that could have been an indicator that good things were on the horizon, but no one could have expected him to soar to such unbelievable heights in 2019.
The reigning American League Pitcher of the Month from the month of May has continued his dominance as the calendar flipped to June. On Saturday, he racked up a career-high 11 strikeouts over 7 ⅔ innings of shutout baseball to earn yet another victory over the Royals.
The win, was Giolito’s seventh straight. Not seven straight decisions, his seventh win in his last seven starts. That streak is the longest in Major League Baseball since Blake Snell won nine straight for the Rays in August and September of his Cy Young Award-winning 2018 campaign.
He has won each of his last eight decisions, with his only loss of the season coming in his second start -- against the Mariners on April 6. That eight-game winning streak is the longest for any White Sox hurler since Chris Sale won 10 straight decisions in 2015-2016. Again, pretty impressive company.
The right-hander has yet to allow a run over 15 innings during his two starts in June. Over his last seven starts, he owns a minuscule 0.88 ERA, 0.68 WHIP and 59/10 K/BB ratio across 51 ⅓ innings. He has held opponents to a .145 batting average during that impressive stretch.
On Saturday, all 11 of his punch-outs came during the first five innings of the ballgame -- striking out the side in the second, third and fifth innings.
For the season, he now sits at 9-1 with a 2.28 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and 89/22 K/BB ratio over 74 innings. Not bad for a player that was selected outside of the top 400 players on average in fantasy drafts in March. During the 15 Memorial Day second-chance drafts that the NFBC ran at the end of May, Giolito saw his average draft position rise to 162. It’s looking increasingly likely that he’ll climb even farther up draft boards before next season.
He’ll look to continue his dominance and build upon his resume for the American League Cy Young Award when he does battle against the Yankees on Friday in Chicago. [[ad:athena]]
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Alvarez Arrives
The announcement that everyone has been patiently waiting for finally came on Saturday night. Jake Kaplan of The Athletic reported that the Astros plan to recall top prospect Yordan Alvarez from Triple-A Round Rock prior to Sunday’s game against the Orioles.
The 21-year-old Cuban slugger entered the 2019 season as the #34 ranked prospect in all of baseball according to Baseball America. He has done nothing but improve that standing since then, slashing a ridiculous .343/.443/.742 with 23 homers, 71 RBI and two stolen bases in 56 games at Round Rock.
With George Springer, Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa on the shelf, the Astros are hopeful that Alvarez will inject life into a lineup that has scored just 44 runs over their last 10 games (4.4 per game -- well below their season average of 5.12).
He’s definitely not coming up to sit on the bench, so expect that he’ll find his way into the Astros’ lineup on a daily basis. He needs to be owned in all formats immediately and is likely worth every penny in FAAB where he’s available.
Can’t Catch a Break
Rays’ pitching prospect Brent Honeywell hasn’t had the best run of luck since he was drafted by the club in the second round of the 2014 draft.
After dominating at every minor league level through his first four professional seasons, Honeywell looked poised to join the Rays’ rotation early in the 2018 season. He entered that season as one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball -- #14 overall by Baseball America and #11 overall by Baseball Prospectus.
Then, trouble struck. He had to cut a bullpen session short in Rays’ spring camp due to an arm issue. He was initially diagnosed with a forearm strain, but an MRI revealed that he had torn the UCL in his right elbow and was forced to undergo Tommy John surgery.
A devastating blow for any pitcher, but in this day and age the procedure has become so routine that pitcher’s regularly come back from it even stronger than before. That’s just what Honeywell looked to be doing this year, after missing the entirety of the 2018 campaign.
Then in April, Honeywell had to be shut down again due to renewed soreness in his elbow and forearm. Dr. James Andrews, who performed his Tommy John surgery, examined the young right-hander and found no structural damage or major concerns.
Still shut down in early May, it was determined that he had a possible nerve issue in his upper right arm. A week later, another visit with Dr. Andrews confirmed the nerve issue, but no structural damage.
Finally, at the end of May, Honeywell seemed to be over the issue and was cleared to resume throwing. He was taking steps toward a return to live game action and was trending toward being able to help the Rays at some point during the second half of the 2019 season.
Then on Saturday, Honeywell fractured a bone in his right elbow while throwing a bullpen session. He will be forced to undergo another surgery on Monday and will miss the remainder of the 2019 season.
It’s another tough break for an extremely talented young right-hander. The Rays will know more after Monday’s surgery on a potential timeline for his return and just how much of the 2020 season he may be forced to miss.
American League Quick Hits: Mitch Moreland landed on the 10-day injured list with a right quad strain… Masahiro Tanaka was placed on the paternity leave list and will miss his scheduled start against the Indians on Sunday… J.D. Martinez (back) sat out both games of Saturday’s doubleheader against the Rays. They’re still taking it day-to-day… Tommy Pham was removed from the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader after he was drilled by a pitch on his right wrist. X-rays came back negative and he’s considered day-to-day… Dellin Betances will have his ailing shoulder re-examined on Monday after he was too sore to throw a bullpen session on Friday… Giancarlo Stanton (calf) will begin his minor league rehab assignment early next week… Aaron Judge (oblique) is roughly two weeks away from beginning his rehab assignment… Brett Gardner received six stitches in his lip on Saturday after he was hit in the face by his own helmet that he had furiously thrown into the dugout, but ricocheted off of a wall and bounced back… Trevor Cahill was placed on the 10-day injured list with right elbow soreness. He’s only expected to miss one start… Ryan Yarbrough struck out seven over 7 ⅔ innings of one-run ball in a victory over the Red Sox… Nomar Mazara homered and drove in three runs as the Rangers topped the Athletics… Framber Valdez struck out seven over seven innings of one-run ball in a tough-luck no-decision against the Orioles… Roberto Perez homered in his fourth consecutive game as the Indians topped the Yankees… Didi Gregorius went 2-for-4 and blasted a two-run homer in a losing effort there… JaCoby Jones went 3-for-4 with a pair of homers and five RBI as the Tigers triumphed over the Twins… David Price struck out 10 over six innings of one-run ball as the Red Sox salvaged the nightcap of Saturday’s doubleheader against the Rays… Adrian Sampson twirled an improbable complete game in a victory over the Athletics, allowing only one run on four hits while punching out seven… Tommy La Stella, Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani swatted back-to-back-to-back homers off of Yusei Kikuchi as the Angels defeated the Mariners.
National League Quick Hits: Scooter Gennett (groin) could begin a minor league rehab assignment before the end of next week… Adam Haseley landed on the 10-day injured list with a left groin strain. Nick Williams was recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to take his place… Jung-Ho Kang and Corey Dickerson rejoined the Pirates from the injured list… Addison Russell is dealing with a bruised right hand but could return to the Cubs’ lineup on Sunday… Robinson Cano (quad) will be re-evaluated on Sunday and may wind up back on the injured list if he isn’t deemed ready to return… Zack Greinke fired six shutout innings in a victory over the Blue Jays… Kevin Cron homered for the second consecutive game in that one… Nick Pivetta threw his first career complete game, allowing just one run and striking out six in a dominant victory over the Reds… Julio Teheran struck out five over six shutout innings in a victory over the Marlins… Trevor Richards allowed just one run over seven innings in a tough-luck loss on the other end of that decision… Zach Davies improved to 7-0 with a victory over the Pirates… Mike Moustakas clubbed his 19th homer to lead the charge in that one… Steven Matz fanned 10 in a victory over the Rockies… Pete Alonso blasted his 21st home run in that victory… Corey Seager went 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles and four RBI as the Dodgers topped the Giants… Victor Caratini delivered a pinch-hit go-ahead three-run double in the sixth inning to lead the Cubs past the Cardinals… Max Scherzer racked up nine strikeouts over seven shutout innings in a victory over the Padres.
