Giolito showing sparks of old self for White Sox

As Kansas City's bench coach, Pedro Grifol saw Lucas Giolito make three starts against the Royals last season.

One of them was good. The other two, not so much.

Taking over for Tony La Russa as White Sox manager this year, Grifol pulled Giolito aside during spring training and gave him a personal scouting report.

"After coming off a really tough year, he reminded me of the pitcher I can be, how hard it is to game plan for the type of stuff I have," Giolito said. "But there's a huge difference. He's seen two versions of me out there. A version you can see on the other side where the confidence isn't really there.

"It looks like I'm searching, and that's really when the hitters will get hungry and pounce, versus when I'm controlling the pace of the game. It makes it a lot harder for them."

Giolito was one of the American League's best starting pitchers from 2019-21, receiving Cy Young Award votes all three years, getting an All-Star Game invite in 2019 and throwing a no-hitter the following season.

Last year, Giolito took a big step backward.

With his confidence wavering throughout the season, Giolito finished with a 4.90 ERA to go with an 11-9 record and 1.44 WHIP.

Thanks to the heart-to-heart with his new manager, the 28-year-old Giolito is looking a lot like his old self this season.

In his last start, against the Phillies in Game 2 of a doubleheader Tuesday, Giolito pitched 6 no-hit innings before being lifted with a pitch count of 102.

"That's him, right there," Grifol said. "That's him. And it's not about the stuff. It's about the mound presence. It's about the confidence. It's, 'Here I am, I'm going to throw it over the plate, hit it if you can, and if you can't, you can't. If you can, you can.'

"That's what I remember and that's what he's been showing. I'm really excited with where he's at right now, (mentally) and obviously physically."

Giolito looked a lot like he did last season in his first two starts this year, giving up 10 runs (9 earned) on 17 hits over 9 innings.

In his last two starts, the 6-foot-6 righty has allowed only 1 earned run on 5 hits over 12 innings.

Against Philadelphia, Giolito was focused and energized. That's a combination he's striving to bring to every start.

"I think having good rhythm and a good mound presence is hugely crucial for my success," Giolito said. "So that's something ... actually Pedro reminded me about it because he was on the other side watching me for a while and we had a very long conversation in spring training about that topic that really put a light bulb on for me.

"That's something I had focus on this season, making sure that's in a good spot."

When everything is clicking like it was against the Phillies, Giolito is as nasty as they come.

"Fastball was where he wanted," catcher Seby Zavala said. "Changeup, slider, it was all working. When you no-hit a team with good players like that, you got things working. He's been doing good. Keep that rolling."

That's the plan.

"It's just put a little more thought into my game planning because that confidence, a lot of it comes from preparation," said Giolito, who makes his next start Sunday against Tampa Bay. "Making sure you're prepared out there and do your thing."