Lucas Giolito was among the best pitchers in all of baseball in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Unfortunately, he was not good for the Chicago White Sox in 2022. There were a lot of reasons for his having a bad year.
One thing needs to be clear, he wasn’t the “worst pitcher in baseball” bad. Dallas Keuchel wishes he had the season that Lucas Giolito had. He’d still have a chance to be an impact player here in 2023. Still, we know what Lucas can do when he is feeling it.
Giolito showed up to spring training early to start work a bit early. That is the kind of effort the White Sox want to see from everyone heading into what they hope is a bounce-back year.
It is clear that a better performance from him in 2022 might have gotten the team back to the postseason. Now, it sounds like he understands exactly what he needs to be this season for the sake of his team.
The Chicago White Sox need more from Lucas Giolito in 2023.
What is it that slowed Lucas Giolito down last year? Well, it’s a combination of a lot of things but his mechanics seemed to be off. It had a lot to do with the fact that he bulked up in the off-season leading up to the year.
That was clearly an experiment gone wrong for Lucas as it messed with him. When it became obvious that he needed to adjust back, they were already way too far into the year. He tried to adjust on the fly but that was really difficult. He definitely finished stronger than he started which is everything we needed to see.
A couple Lucas Giolito throws to Yasmani Grandal, with some Ethan Katz instruction in between pic.twitter.com/7OlgTa1fI8
— Vinnie Duber (@VinnieDuber) February 16, 2023
Here we are now at spring training and we got a chance to see/gear from him. He seems to be in good spirits about where he is at and where he is going when it comes to pitching this year.
As mentioned before, Giolito bulked up last year and it didn’t work. This time around, he bulked down so he could be more of what he was in the previous years. His current weight total is where he was at during the peak of his career which is what he wants to return to.
Lucas Giolito is at 245 pounds. He was 280 last spring. pic.twitter.com/zHV69UhQam
— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) February 18, 2023
Lucas Giolito. pic.twitter.com/fA1Zy9iTLC
— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) February 18, 2023
He showed up to spring training in 2022 at 280 LBS. Now, he is down to 245 LBS. That is a huge difference for a professional athlete in just a year. Hopefully, with this new (or old) body type, he is able to find his good form and pitch well again. It is pivotal to the team’s success this year.