Worst to first: Giolito vaults to top of White Sox's rotation
Lucas Giolito is still getting his baseball fix, but it's not quite what he was preparing for during the first four weeks of spring training before the coronavirus pandemic halted the game on March 12.
Instead of taking the mound for the White Sox and starting against the Royals, Indians and other real teams, Giolito has been trying to maintain his competitive edge playing against other peers in MLB The Show Players League, a video game.
All 30 major league teams are represented in the monthlong competition. Ian Happ is playing for the Cubs.
If and when baseball returns this season, Giolito will happily put down the PS4 controller and get back to showing he is one of the top young starters in the game.
In 2018, Giolito was a huge liability for the Sox, and his future as a major league pitcher was in doubt.
Acquired from the Nationals in the Adam Eaton trade after the 2016 season, Giolito debuted for the White Sox in '18 and posted a 6.13 ERA, the highest in baseball.
Last year, Giolito became a major asset. The 25-year-old righty lowered his ERA to 3.41, and the 2.72 drop was the third-best improvement in baseball history.
Giolito was an all-star last season, and his confidence level skyrocketed.
"This is me, the type of pitcher that I am, something I'll be able to repeat for years," he said. "I want to continue to get better. I think there are things that I'm going to continue to get better at. That's the plan. Just keep going and keep improving."
Even though he reported to training camp last month a little behind due to a strained rib cage muscle, Giolito was feeling much better when baseball was shut down.
"That was taken care of pretty early on in the spring," he said. "By the time I was building up and throwing and getting off the mound for the first time, it wasn't even a thought. So it was unfortunate. I was looking forward to a nice full season. It's obviously not looking that way, but we'll see what we can make happen here.
"I'm feeling very good, very strong, doing my best to just maintain where I'm at. Hopefully, we get the call soon."
When the call does come and what's left of the upcoming season does begin, Giolito is positioned to start the first game for the White Sox and move forward as their No 1 starter.
After the disastrous 2018 season, Giolito worked on the mental side of his game and made some major mechanical adjustments. The most important fix for the 6-foot-6 pitcher was shortening his arm swing.
All of the work paid off and Giolito finished seventh in American League Cy Young Award voting last year. In addition to the 3.41 ERA, he was 14-9 and had 228 strikeouts in 176.2 innings.
"I think is well on his way," Sox manager Rick Renteria said. "You guys all see it. We see it. He's well on his way to being an excellent big-league starter for us and we are expecting and anticipating it's going to be a big piece of us moving forward."