Washington Nationals to Call Up Top Prospect Lucas Giolito
By JJ Keller
With Stephen Strasburg hitting the DL, the Washington Nationals will call up #1 prospect Lucas Giolito from Double-A to make the start on Tuesday night.
It’s never a good thing when an ace like Stephen Strasburg is forced to hit the disabled list, but this one comes with some silver linings. The Washington Nationals can perhaps take some solace in the fact that they have another potential phenom on their hands ready to help out the big league club. What that means for the rest of us is that we will be treated to the chance to watch said phenom.
I am, of course, talking about 21-year-old right-handed pitcher Lucas Giolito, who will get the call from Double-A Harrisburg, and get the start for the Nationals on Tuesday. That means Giolito has yet to see any time at the Triple-A level, but despite that, Dusty Baker feels, “He’s ready for the task.”
While making the jump from Double-A doesn’t happen a ton, it isn’t all that rare anymore either, especially with someone as highly touted as Giolito. MLB.com ranks him as the #1 prospect in all of baseball, and just about every other outlet has him somewhere in the top five as well.
Giolito has made 14 starts in Double-A this year (he also made eight starts there last season after beginning the year at High-A), and has posted a good-but-not-dominant (at least by his standards) 3.17 ERA and 3.22 FIP. He is still striking out plenty of batters, at 9.13 per nine innings, but his walk rate has also jumped all the way to 4.31 per nine.
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Giolito has never necessarily been an elite control pitcher, but he previously sat around a 2.50 BB/9 in his A-ball days. His walk rate began to creep up in his eight Double-A starts last year at 3.23 BB/9 — bringing his combined Double-A walk rate to a somewhat concerning 3.88 BB/9 — so it isn’t necessarily a new occurrence, or something we can wave off as a 14-start anomaly.
It isn’t clear whether this was something the Nationals were planning on already, and the Strasburg injury simply opened up a spot for the inevitable, or if the team simply reacted to the injury and decided to fast-track Giolito, in which case he would likely be sent back down when the rotation is healthy.
My guess, based on the aforementioned walk issues, is that they were not already planning on giving him the call. That said, one would have to assume they feel he is at least ready enough for a cup of coffee — they wouldn’t risk rushing someone as talented as Giolito if they thought it could upset his development.
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Giolito will be up against Matt Harvey and the New York Mets when he makes his MLB debut Tuesday night in Washington.