Lucas Giolito

Position: RHP
Born: 7/14/1994
Height: 6'6
Weight: 255
B/T: R/R
Acquired: Drafted in the first round (#16 overall) of the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft (WSH)

Most Recent Stats at Time of Debut
CURRENT SEASON STATS: 5-3 with a 3.17 ERA in 14 starts at Harrisburg (Double-A), striking out 72 while walking 34 and allowing 67 hits in 71 innings.

Info & MLB Debut Date
Contract purchased from Harrisburg June 28 when RHP Rafael Martin was sent down and RHP Taylor Jordan was released.
MLB Debut Date: 6/28/2016

Debut Details
June 28, in a 5-0 win against the New York Mets. The starting pitcher, Giolito was nearly flawless, with the only reason he was not in line for the win coming from circumstances outside of his control — namely, the weather. After the game was delayed by more than a half-hour due to rain, he turned in four innings of one-hit shutout ball, walking two and striking out one, before another rain delay of nearly an hour and a half ended his night before the requisite five innings. After giving up his lone hit to the first batter he faced, Curtis Granderson, who singled to center, he then struck out Asdrubal Cabrera and retired Yoenis Cespedes and Neil Walker on infield grounders to end that threat. Giolito retired the side in order in the second as James Loney flew out, Wilmer Flores grounded out and Brandon Nimmo flew out. In the third, Travis d’Arnaud and opposing pitcher Matt Harvey grounded out before Granderson reached on a walk, but Cabrera’s fly out ended that threat as well. In the fourth, Cespedes reached on a leadoff walk before Walker flew out and Loney grounded into a double play, which turned out to be the end of Giolito’s night. He threw just 45 pitches, 29 of them for strikes, and has now thrown just over 75 innings total on the season.

Player Notes
With the arrival of Giolito to the majors, the Nationals become the final team to welcome a debutante in 2016, as he becomes the 122nd player to make his MLB debut this season. And there is probably not anyone who will argue that he wasn’t worth waiting for. Bringing a career 24-13 record and 2.74 ERA in 67 games into his big league debut, with 353 strikeouts against just 113 walks and 280 hits in 324.2 IP, Giolito is on a careful innings limit that will remain in play for the foreseeable future. A potential 1-1 pick out of academic powerhouse Harvard-Westlake in 2012, elbow issues at the time saw him drop to the 16th pick, and Tommy John surgery soon followed. But his return has been carefully monitored and clearly successful. In 2015 he combined between Potomac (High A) and Harrisburg to go 7-7 with a 3.15 ERA in 21 games, striking out 131 and walking just 37 in 117 innings, allowing 113 hits. In 2014 at Hagerstown (Class A) he was 10-2 with a 2.20 ERA in 20 starts, fanning 110 and walking 28 in 98 innings while allowing just 70 hits. As an additional note, had the Nats decided not to bring Giolito up yet to replace injured starter Stephen Strasburg for this start, it’s likely the Nats still would have finally gotten onto the “debutante ball” scene since the other top candidate was RHP Austin Voth at Syracuse (Triple-A), another potential future debutante. By the way, Giolito’s Southern California glow extends past his own aura. He comes from a family with several generations of film industry roots, including his mother, Lindsay Frost, and her father, Warren Frost, who are both actors; his dad, Rick Giolito, a noted producer; and his mom’s brothers, Mark, a writer and producer, and Scott, a writer.

2080 Notes
Giolito checked in at No. 3 on 2080 Baseball’s Preseason Top 125 Prospect Ranking List, and was the highest-ranked pitcher on the list, sitting just behind Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager and Twins center fielder Byron Buxton (both of whom had already made their big league debuts prior to 2016) and 2080’s C.J. Wittmann had this to say about him: “The Next Big Thing? Flashing a mid-to high-90s fastball, elite curveball and a quality changeup, Giolito has all of the ingredients to be the top arm in the minors this year and soon, one of the best arms in baseball.” Wittmann added a Prospect Spotlight on Giolito that you can read here.