Chicago White Sox's Giolito strong in win over Washington

If all of their prospects take the same development path as Lucas Giolito, the Chicago White Sox are going to be a team to reckon with in the very near future.

Acquired from the Washington Nationals in the December Adam Eaton trade, Giolito has come a long ways from the first two months of the season, when he was laboring at Class AAA Charlotte with a 2-5 record and 5.36 ERA.

"There were a lot of struggles there earlier this year," Giolito said. "I worked through those, obviously with the help of (Charlotte pitching coach) Steve McCatty. I'll continue to give him credit for just sticking with me and helping me find my confidence and my stuff."

Both traits were on display again in Sunday afternoon's 8-1 win over the Kansas City Royals at Guaranteed Rate Field.

While delivering his fifth quality effort in 7 starts with the Sox, Giolito pitched 7 innings and allowed 1 run on 5 hits. The 23-year-old righty is 3-3 with a 2.38 ERA since arriving in late August.

He still has one more start this season, but Giolito is already confident in his ability to make an impact with the White Sox in 2018.

"For sure," he said. "My confidence is there. I trust my stuff, I trust my pitches. There are things to work on, things I'm talking to Coop (pitching coach Don Cooper) about. There's always stuff to improve. I'd say that just the confidence and everything is right where it needs to be so I'm going to continue to try and pitch like I am."

At 6-foot-6, Giolito has used good size to his advantage.

"He's got angle, he's got height," manager Rick Renteria said after the Sox won their first season series over the Royals since 2010. "He's got good angle so that creates some deception and he can ride it up out of the zone. And then he comes out from that angle with the breaking ball or his changeup."

With 31 overall starts under his belt so far, Giolito said his legs were important on Sunday.

"It's the end of the year," Giolito said. "I have one more so I'm just trying to get into my legs and drive the ball through the strike zone. I felt like we did a good job of that."

Giolito believes he can continue doing good things next season and beyond.

"I feel like I belong here," Giolito said. "I feel like this is where I can pitch. I can pitch deep into games."