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Giolito pitched just fine with the sticky ban last year. Yes, his spin rates are down and they've been steadily going down since the sticky ban, but he had a 3.33 ERA and 3.47 FIP in 92 innings after June 21st (when the ban went into effect) last year. The lack of sticky stuff might make it so that his fastball is no longer as effective, but he did just fine without it for about 120 innings. Here is how his 2021 went pre and post sticky ban. Pre 6/21/2021 Fastball - 2430 RPM, .225 BA, .441 SLG, 43.9% Slider - 2174 RPM, .250 BA, .583 SLG, 17.1% Change - 1475 RPM, .188 BA, .362 SLG, 37.5% Post 6/21/2021 Fastball - 2272 RPM, .270 BA, .416 SLG, 43.8% Slider - 1943 RPM, .187 BA, .245 SLG, 25.2% Change - 1511 RPM, .259 BA, .411 SLG, 26.9% Giolito really had to adjust his pitching style after the ban. His fastball and slider spin rate went down by a lot. His fastball/change combo was no longer his bread and butter without the high spin rate on his fastball, as teams could sit on the change up more. He went with his slider a lot more and it was arguably his best pitch post ban. But he adjusted fine and was still considered a very good, if not elite, starting pitcher. 2022 has been rocky for Giolito with an injury on opening day and then COVID in early May. I've seen a lot of people talk about how he hasn't been the same since COVID, so I decided to take a look at the splits. He returned from COVID on 5/18 and here are his numbers pre/post. Pre 5/18/2022 Fastball - 2170 RPM, .200 BA, .472 SLG, 48.6%, 93.1 MPH Slider - 1980 RPM, .400 BA, .650 SLG, 19.9% Change - 1426 RPM, .120 BA, .160 SLG, 23.6% Post 5/18/2022 Fastball - 2155 RPM, .365 BA, .519 SLG, 48.2%, 93.3 MPH Slider - 1954 RPM, .234 BA, .553 SLG, 28.3% Change - 1402 RPM, .385 BA, .642 SLG, 21.7% One thing that jumps out at you is just how bad his change up has been in his past 6 starts. It was easily his best pitch results-wise in his first 5 starts. Just from watching Giolito pitch recently, it's stuck out to me that his slider has been getting hit really hard. He's given up 4 homers off hanging sliders in his past 4 starts alone and I can actually remember all of them without looking it up. And yet, that's his been his best pitch since 5/18 because his fastball and change up have been god awful. He's also upped the usage on the slider by about 8% (mostly by ditching the curveball), so more sliders = more probability he hangs one once in a while. So what the hell happened to Giolito's fastball and change up combo? It was once one of the best pitch combos in baseball and it's now extremely below average. I don't think it's the velocity that's the issue here. He's throwing harder since his bout with COVID. His spin rates, while down a little, aren't down enough to make you think that's the main issue. I think the main issue is his control on both pitches. Here's the heatmaps for his fastball with pre COVID on the left and post COVID on the right. Fastball His fastball control has been erratic ever since coming off the COVID list. He was around the zone more often than not in his first 5 starts of the year, but he has since been just about everywhere with his fastball. His 40% CSW rate (called strike and whiffs) has decreased to just 32%. He's also gone from throwing 26% balls to nearly 39%. The lack of fastball control really hurt him last night in the 6th when he fell behind every hitter and had to throw his fastball in the zone in fastball counts. Speaking of fastballs in the zone, Giolito has gotten killed on them since 5/18. Here are those numbers. Pre 5/18/2022 Fastball heart - .278 BA, 16% Fastball shadow - .160 BA, 22% Post 5/18/2022 Fastball heart - .500 BA, 13.2% Fastball shadow - .304 BA, 20% Just for reference, the heart is basically in the middle of the plate, a few inches inside the corners of the zone. The shadow is the area around the edge of the zone. The league average on heart fastballs is .299. The league average on shadow fastballs is .223. So either his fastball is now one of the worst in the league or he's getting extremely unlucky. A little unlucky, maybe. His xBA on his fastballs since 5/18 is about 60 points lower than his actual BA on them, but I'm not sure that's the entirety of the problem. I alluded to him getting behind in the zone and having to throw his fastball in the zone in fastball counts earlier, and weirdly enough, he's thrown less fastballs in the zone since 5/18 than prior. All this points to his fastball just being less effective overall. He's throwing it faster, he's throwing it less in the heart of the zone, but when he's throwing it there, it's getting clobbered. It's a bit astounding that even his fastball in the shadow of the zone is being hit at a .300 clip, when that should be a pitch that gets hit for about .200. Without his ability to establish the fastball, his change up has suffered as well results-wise. But he's also not locating it as well. Here are his change up heat maps, the left is prior to COVID and the right is after. Change He's throwing the change up a lot less in the zone. He used to throw it inside to right handers and outside to lefties, but he's more or less just throwing them low and out of the zone. If he's behind a hitter, that's probably a pitch they end up laying off as opposed to swinging at. And that's more or less what batters have done as the whiff rate on his change up has decreased from 30% to just 10%. They're also taking the pitch about 4% more for balls. His CSW% is also down from 40% to 25%. TLDR: his fastball and change up are crap now. His fastball is all over the place and when he throws it in the zone, it gets crushed. He's also getting behind in the count more due to lack of good fastball control. Hitters are laying off his change up and they're also hitting it hard when he does throw a hittable one. His slider has been hit hard for homers, but has more or less been his best pitch. Although that's not saying much since his fastball and change up have been horrendously bad since coming back from COVID. How do you fix him? Get his fastball command back. The more counts he's ahead in, the more he can use the slider and change up more effectively and the less he has to throw the fastball in fastball counts. I think the days of Lucas having an elite fastball are over. He just needs it to be league average or serviceable. That hasn't been the case in the past 6 starts and that's why he's been getting clobbered.

What a difference a day makes. Great Win. Cueto is the man.

Nailed it, idiot

To go with his 2 errors, Kath has a double and a homer. He really has been hitting a lot better in the last month or so. Sosa 1-2 so far.

That was fun and unexpected.

Verlander brought some of that Detroit magic with him today

Give it up for Johnny. 7 shutout innings of 2 hit ball.

Yermin certainly got the short end of TLR's stick.

I'm pretty confident Yermin will contribute to that team in some way. Just how it goes for us. We would trade Moncada and hed stop getting hurt and put up an 8 war season.

Just hit the wires.

Dude , he's 36 and RH so who you going to cut Engel , who is younger , faster and a better fielder ? Cain -.6 fWAR , Engel .2 fWAR . Pollock's been tearing the cover off the ball for the last month. Haseley is 10 yrs younger and LH and he doesn't have a spot on the Sox. Edited to say: Looks like Haseley is coming up after a torrid last month in Charlotte. Probably replaces Moncada when he's IL'd.

Quit signing stiffs and sign this even worse stiff!

My body is really enjoying freedom from Kuechel’s psychological terrorism

He'll fit right in.

Luckily Super Joe didn't choose to have Zavala get thrown out by a mile and kept the bases loaded for Robert to start the scoring.

Thread starter @wegner deserves some afternoon delight after the balsy move to open the Game Thread with Verlander on the mound.

Watch him actually contribute. The Giants have been great dumpster divers since Zaidi took over.

Andrew Vaughn, professional hitter

Someone gone broke

Johnny at 33 pitches thru 3. If he'd like to go 8, that'd be just fine.

Lol I like how often music videos/clips are getting thrown into posts. @South Side Hit Men has USHERed in a new era.

This matchup seems so one sided that something weird absolutely must happen. Either a white Sox blowout or like both pitchers throwing 8 shutout innings, because baseball is never that predictable.

When do we start holding Giolitto accountable for the fact that he pretty much sucks and on a good team he is a 3 or a 4??? Asking for a friend

I was thinking blueballstalk but I googled that and don't recommend it.

https://www.milb.com/scores/chicago-white-sox/2022-06-18 https://www.mlb.com/prospects/stats/affiliates?teamId=145&date=06/18/2022 Full slate. Kanny with two. Cueto vs Verlander....................Well then.

Time to find your baby, hold her tight, and grab some afternoon White Sox baseball....

Joe thought about packing his lunch and thought better of it.

An all RH lineup against Verlander....I wonder how many GT in a row I'm going to start??

Ozzie in the pregame...."I'm sorry but you're not going to compete in the Kentucky Derby with a donkey."

I love that filthy song.

I keep hoping that the White Sox turn it around and every time I think they are headed in the right direction, they throw in a stinker like last night. Perhaps Cuerto throws a masterpiece today and the team's bats are as hot as heck. That scenario seems unlikely with Verlander on the mound but anything can happen. Come on Chicago, get pissed about last's night performance and get things turned around asap. Some of us haven't given up on the team yet but dang it, it's getting harder to stay positive.

I'm taking ASTROS ML ASTROS -1.5 ASTROS -2.5 F it......might as well make some money

We keep hearing that everything will be great when the team gets healthy. Problem is the team is never healthy. It can't be said that this team is the favorite to win the AL Central.

spin rates for every pitch he commonly throws are at or below their 2018 levels.

Cupping is the answer. We need more cupping.

Seriously need an internal investigation into whatever they are doing in pre-season strength and conditioning, and in game warm ups etc because the number of hamstring problems and other muscle injuries to position players is getting ridiculous. I know that injuries are expected over a 162 game season but we are not even at halfway and virtually every position player has spent time on the IL, it is hardly surprising that so few of them have any offensive rhythm. Not only that the hamstring injuries have not exactly come when players are using explosive speed which is when they are most common, Grandal was jogging to first and Eloy was hardly sprinting. This number of injuries suggests more than a 'bit of bad luck' and smells more of lack of conditioning and preparation.

Pirates and A's the only ones with a lower "biggest contract awarded" in the majors. Even Wander Franco, Jose Ramirez and KeBryan Hayes are getting paid.

That and the fact they've shown little to no inclination towards beating the Twins and Guardians head to head...yet we are supposed to believe they can magically just flip the switch at some point in the indeterminate future. That works fine with Detroit and maybe KC, but not so much the elite franchises of the sport.

They don’t have the right to fear other teams. They need to look themselves square in the eyes and start making real changes.

Just watched the highlights. Reminds me of playing the Yankees. Sox got no chance in such matchups. Wow. Those Astros hit some missiles. Sox just don't have it this year for a plethora of reasons. This team isnt gonna win many games on the road against a team like that and hungry crowd like that. A sea of orange clad people yelling and screaming and cheering. By the way, the Sox bullpen is really really bad. They just serve up meatballs. It's gonna be hard for the Sox to beat any good teams in close games (I realize this wasn't close) with that bullpen. Sox starters going five isn't conducive to beating ANY good team. We just need to beat up on the Central and be happy bout that.

So do you have a opinion on his question?

BTW- yordan Alvarez is every bit of what of what I thought Eloy was going to be from the right side. Man was I wrong! I'm jealous, hurt, envious, and pretty much numb to the idea that Eloy will never be nothing

What an awful showing coming off the Detroit series. Thank god I couldn’t go to the game tonight and had to give my tickets away.

Verlander…pitcher…good…

wait i missed this.. moancada left with hamstring? yeah someone needs to get fucking fired

Rick Hahn spent $20M more this season than Houston. Has the same roster holes, the same pathetic depth, same lack of any quality coming through the system. The Sox still do not have a starting Right Fielder, a starting Second Baseman and a starting Catcher. Houston lost Correa, Greinke, Springer, McCullers, Osuna and had guys ready to plug and play or they go and sign the right free agents. There is a Grand Canyon sized chasm between the Houston Astros and the Chicago White Sox.

Colas HR.

https://www.cleveland.com/guardians/2022/03/guardians-counting-on-secret-sauce-to-keep-pitching-factory-going-the-week-in-baseball.html Look at their lineup, other than Ramirez. They’re all acquisitions from other teams, primarily the Mets and Padres. It’s certainly nothing system-wide. Their minor league prospect depth is primarily concentrated in the middle infield…which seems more of a flexibility/versatility strategy than a hitting issue. Rosario and Gimenez can all play multiple positions. They did seem to get more out of Kwan, Miller and Naylor offensively than would have been expected by most prognosticators. Recently, Gimenez, a key part of the Lindor deal. And Oscar Gonzalez, kind of a no-name Mr. Obscurity prospect. Could be something simple like the hitting background/environment in terms of ball carrying well there in CLE with the prevailing winds?