Chicago White Sox: Lucas Giolito’s amazing 2020 grade
Lucas Giolito proved again that he has the stuff of an ace for the Chicago White Sox in 2020.
Lucas Giolito has had a wild career so far. When he was drafted by the Washington Nationals, he was considered one of the best pitching prospects in the world. He was the number one pitching prospect in all of baseball when he was traded to the Chicago White Sox in December of 2016. He went to the White Sox along with Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning for Adam Eaton. Washington ended up winning the World Series with Eaton but the White Sox ended up with an ace.
When Giolito first made his way to the White Sox mound, however, things didn’t go according to plan. He was the worst starting pitching in the entire MLB for the 2018 season. He certainly didn’t live up to (at first) the hype he had as the number one pitching prospect.
Luckily for the White Sox, he didn’t look at the 2018 season as an acceptable one for him. He changed the way he approaches pitching and that helped him become one of the best pitchers in the American League. In 2019, he came in 6th place for the American League Cy Young in what was a breakout season. Going into 2020, we wanted to know if he would be able to keep that up. He delivered and then some.
Giolito came in 7th place for the Cy Young Award in 2020 so once again, he was one of the best pitchers in the American League. He had a record of 4-3 with a 3.48 ERA and a 1.037 WHIP. He had 97 strikeouts and only 28 walks in 72.1 innings over 12 starts. It was a great season for him and he even has the potential to get even better.
2020 Grade: A
The Chicago White Sox have an ace in Lucas Giolito. When he pitches up to those expectations, he deserves an A. He threw a no-hitter, had a great ERA, a great WHIP, and a top-ten finish in the Cy Young Award race. That is enough for an A letter grade right there. He is a great pitcher and he will be for a long time.
Hot. Three Toronto Blue Jays free agents for the White Sox to consider. light
2021 Outlook:
Lucas Giolito is going to be the White Sox ace for a long time. He is one of the best pitchers in baseball and is going to continue getting better. He will start for them on Opening Day and in game one of their playoff run if they make it. They believe he can be an ace of a championship squad so he is going to get every opportunity to do so. Nothing would be better than seeing Lucas Giolito on the mound for game one of the World Series.