Giolito's slow start

[raBBit]

Hopefully Gio can keep being transparent about his struggles after getting his ass handed to him by another shitty team in the division. His emotions out there certainly are transparent and that's what is important. 

[South Side Hit Men]

Just terrible luck today. All of the damage today was the result of bad luck and strong wind blowing out.

Expected batting average..160 and .190 on the five runs given up today.

29

Michael A. Taylor

Lucas Giolito

13

2

Home Run

98.4

37

351

90.7

.160

5

Salvador Perez

Lucas Giolito

22

3

Home Run

97.0

35

344

84.3

.190

[southsider2k5]

To be fair, the 5 runs Gio gave up were wind aided garbage.  Both of those balls are caught short of the warning track on a normal day.

[chw42]

2 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

To be fair, the 5 runs Gio gave up were wind aided garbage.  Both of those balls are caught short of the warning track on a normal day.

They were both on pretty bad pitches though. One was a 90.7 MPH fastball down the middle and another was a slider that didn't slide enough.

[Soxfest]

Giolito numbers even last year without McCann were night and day!

[Angel Hernandez]

If only we still had Cooper🐧

[hi8is]

9 hours ago, Soxfest said:

Giolito numbers even last year without McCann were night and day!

Maybe the Mets would trade him back to us every 5th day only for Gio starts.

Edited May 15, 2021 by hi8is

[Blackout Friday]

I really think he’s fine. Bad luck and probably a bit out or whack mechanically. Velo is fine, so his arm is ok. Gio is smart enough and his arm that as long as he’s healthy I don’t worry. 

[Dominikk85]

3 hours ago, Angel Hernandez said:

If only we still had Cooper🐧

Katz ruined him:). 

 

Just kidding but I feel like his compact arm motion (which is good and helped him) became even more compact and now looks a little robotic

 

Maybe I'm seeing that wrong but to me it looks even more compact

 

21

 

2020

Not quite sure but maybe he overdid it with the compact motion

[Chicago White Sox]

Lucas’s horizontal release point is noticeably different vs last year, coming out what looks like a good 8 inches glove side.  His 4 seamer location is also vastly different than last year, with nearly 6% more of his pitches coming in below the zone and nearly 6% less of his pitches coming in his typical sweet-spot above the zone.  To me, it feels like his mechanics are a bit out of whack and it’s hurting his command some.  The slider has also been a mess this year, but that’s a different story.

[soxfan49]

15 hours ago, Soxfest said:

Giolito numbers even last year without McCann were night and day!

🎵 Let it go, let it goooo 🎶

[SonofaRoache]

17 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

To be fair, the 5 runs Gio gave up were wind aided garbage.  Both of those balls are caught short of the warning track on a normal day.

Sadly, the wind stopped cooperating during our at bats. 

[Chick Mercedes]

His more compact delivery is so exaggerated now Its like he’s flinging the ball from his chest, and velocity down.

[Lillian]

Let's hope that he can correct whatever issues he has. If the season were to end right now, he would not be the best option to join the starting rotation for the playoffs. Rodon, Lynn, and Kopech are all in front of him, at this point. And Cease might get there, if he can be more consistent. Giolito is certainly not pitching like the Ace of the staff. You would have to think that Katz "will fix him". No one knows him better.

Edited May 15, 2021 by Lillian

[Chick Mercedes]

2 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Lucas’s horizontal release point is noticeably different vs last year, coming out what looks like a good 8 inches glove side.  His 4 seamer location is also vastly different than last year, with nearly 6% more of his pitches coming in below the zone and nearly 6% less of his pitches coming in his typical sweet-spot above the zone.  To me, it feels like his mechanics are a bit out of whack and it’s hurting his command some.  The slider has also been a mess this year, but that’s a different story.

I forget who was commenting on the Score, but they said his changeup was not “parachuting in” the way it was last year and prior. And also the league hitters are sitting on it and have adjusted. He has little room for  error with his stuff too. 

[fathom]

5 minutes ago, Chick Mercedes said:

I forget who was commenting on the Score, but they said his changeup was not “parachuting in” the way it was last year and prior. And also the league hitters are sitting on it and have adjusted. He has little room for  error with his stuff too. 

It’s also because as CWS mentioned, he’s not using the high fastball effectively like he did last year.  Because of that, the unique high change up isn’t fooling hitters as much because they don’t confuse it with a fastball.

[Soxsi75]

6 minutes ago, Chick Mercedes said:

I forget who was commenting on the Score, but they said his changeup was not “parachuting in” the way it was last year and prior. And also the league hitters are sitting on it and have adjusted. He has little room for  error with his stuff too. 

"And also the league hitters are sitting on it and have adjusted." 

Thank you for mentioning that. That's one of two things I've noticed. It seems like he's fallen in love a bit too much with his change and teams are sitting on it, and the other thing is his velocity IS down. Now my concern is, is he hurt and just not saying anything? Many pitchers have done that before.  Or, like mentioned here by many people, is it mechanical? I'm hoping it's the latter. Because that can be fixed. If he's hurt......Or can it be this? Like I said, I think it looks like he's fallen in love a bit too much with his change. And sometimes when a pitcher who over uses an off speed pitch, he loses velocity.  I can think of two examples of this. Anyone on here remember Ron Darling? He threw hard when he came up with the Mets, but then he fell in love with his off speed split finger and after a few years, that's all he could throw. Or what about Mike MacDougal? He threw 100 mph while with KC, we get him and all he ever threw was his slider and never came anywhere close to throwing that hard for us. 

[ShoeLessRob]

Hope he figures it out, I feel like regardless of the season they will allow him to be the first starter in the playoffs. 

[Jack Parkman]

2 hours ago, Soxsi75 said:

"And also the league hitters are sitting on it and have adjusted." 

Thank you for mentioning that. That's one of two things I've noticed. It seems like he's fallen in love a bit too much with his change and teams are sitting on it, and the other thing is his velocity IS down. Now my concern is, is he hurt and just not saying anything? Many pitchers have done that before.  Or, like mentioned here by many people, is it mechanical? I'm hoping it's the latter. Because that can be fixed. If he's hurt......Or can it be this? Like I said, I think it looks like he's fallen in love a bit too much with his change. And sometimes when a pitcher who over uses an off speed pitch, he loses velocity.  I can think of two examples of this. Anyone on here remember Ron Darling? He threw hard when he came up with the Mets, but then he fell in love with his off speed split finger and after a few years, that's all he could throw. Or what about Mike MacDougal? He threw 100 mph while with KC, we get him and all he ever threw was his slider and never came anywhere close to throwing that hard for us. 

https://theathletic.com/2581873/2021/05/15/checking-in-on-lucas-giolitos-slow-start-while-michael-kopech-finds-his-slider/

Quote

Giolito and pitching coach Ethan Katz have been working to make something happen mechanically. Overall, Giolito’s release point has lacked the same vertical consistency of the past two years, but it’s presented in multiple ways. He wants glove-side fastball command and the ability to drive his heater down in the zone occasionally to keep hitters off the high-riding four-seamer he wants to live with, and he feels both have been leaking out into hittable areas. Accordingly, Giolito is riding the highest hard-hit rate of his career, which is mostly coming on his fastball and slider.

Link in thread: 

https://www.pitcherlist.com/lucas-giolito-isnt-quite-right/

His release point seems to be more over the top this year than usual. 

Edited May 15, 2021 by Jack Parkman

[Green Line]

2 minutes ago, ShoeLessRob said:

Hope he figures it out, I feel like regardless of the season they will allow him to be the first starter in the playoffs. 

Really?  Why would they put their worst starter out there to begin the playoffs regardless of whether or not he's pitching well.  We are blessed with an abundance of good pitchers right now.  Giolito had a spectacular 2019 and 2 month 2020 season.  The other half of his career is not so good.

[ShoeLessRob]

7 minutes ago, Green Line said:

Really?  Why would they put their worst starter out there to begin the playoffs regardless of whether or not he's pitching well.  We are blessed with an abundance of good pitchers right now.  Giolito had a spectacular 2019 and 2 month 2020 season.  The other half of his career is not so good.

CauseWeTheWhiteSox