Kansas City Royals: Lucas Giolito has become a huge problem for Royals
The Kansas City Royals are likely going to have to face LucasGiolito of the Chicago White Sox for many years to come and that’s not good. He’s shut down the Royals in 2019.
Lucas Giolito, a first round pick by the Washington Nationals in 2012, has the Kansas City Royals‘ number in 2019. His recent outing against the boys in blue came on Saturday and resulted in him twirling 7.2 scoreless innings in an eventual 2-0 win at Kauffman Stadium.
In that game, Giolito threw 118 pitches and only surrendered three hits while walking just two batters and striking out a whopping 11 Royals. His ERA now sits at a beautiful 2.26. Giolito turns 25 next month and isn’t slated to be a free agent until 2024.
Translation? He’s going to be a nuisance to the Kansas City Royals and their fans for a long time.
So over his last seven starts, that’s 51.1 IP, 25 H, 5 ER, 10 BB, 59 K, HR for Lucas Giolito.
— James Fegan (@JRFegan) June 8, 2019
That’s a 0.88 ERA and 31.9% K-rate while averaging well over seven innings per start, which is fairly intense.
Giolito was initially a member of the Nationals, but Washington traded for Adam Eaton prior to the 2017 season and that resulted in the White Sox getting three prospects in return. Eaton was included in that package. The Nationals are probably not happy to see Giolito wheeling and dealing this season.
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Prior to this outing, the Royals had faced Giolito three other times. In those three other games, Giolito threw a total of 15.2 innings and allowed five runs during that time. He really hasn’t had a bad outing against them this season.
With the Royals and White Sox being in the same division, Giolito has the potential to become the new Chris Sale (who is still torturing the Royals) or Justin Verlander when it comes to divisional pitchers who shut the Royals offense down. There’s a reason Giolito was such a coveted prospect years ago and we’re seeing why for ourselves in 2019.
As you can see in the tweet a few paragraphs above, Giolito is figuring things out. He’s only allowed five total runs in his last seven starts and should be a shoe-in to make the All-Star Game in Cleveland next month.
Say what you will about the White Sox and how comically bad they’ve been for awhile, but the organization is taking steps in the right direction. They have some really good players on their team and could become the bullies of the American League Central in a few years… right when the Royals will be hoping to turn things around.
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If the White Sox do figure things out and start to win the big games, Lucas Giolito is one of the biggest names to watch. The guy is insanely good and Royals fans are already tired of watching him dominant their team.