5/8 games

[Feeky Magee]

CHAR: Giolito

BHAM: Cooper

W-S: Off

KAN: Lambert

 

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.jsp?c...mp;ymd=20170508

http://mlbfarm.com/index.php?team=CWS

 

Things to watch for from the starters:

 

Can Giolito keep his walks down?

Can Cooper keep dominating?

Can Lambert get his strikeouts back up to last year's level?

[maxjusttyped]

Just realized Cooper's FIP is a cool 0.98 so far this year.

[maxjusttyped]

FWIW the Indianapolis stadium gun has Giolito at 93-95 in the early going. Falling behind first pair of hitters though

 

https://twitter.com/JRFegan/status/861723676584157185

So... that's the one thing we don't have to worry about with Giolito right now.

[chitownsportsfan]

Giolito can get strikeouts but god damn he has zero command or control, that's evidence from the pitch trax. He doesn't know where individual pitches are going and he doesn't have enough guile to not walk guys either. You can have control or command and be alright (although command usually leads to control) but you can't lack both.

[daggins]

I dunno what the Sox brass thinking is, but Giolito may need some time in B'ham.

[Feeky Magee]

Not sure how much it says about Trey Michalczewski's prospect status that he's hitting below Courtney Hawkins in the lineup. The Hawk just struck out swinging and is very close to a 60% strikeout rate this year through 79 plate appearances. The worst strikeout rate in Southern League history (minimum 70 PA) is 45.1%, set in 2014 by... any guesses?

[SoxAce]

11 game hitting streak for Micker Adolfo..

[BlackSox13]

Not sure how much it says about Trey Michalczewski's prospect status that he's hitting below Courtney Hawkins in the lineup. The Hawk just struck out swinging and is very close to a 60% strikeout rate this year through 79 plate appearances. The worst strikeout rate in Southern League history (minimum 70 PA) is 45.1%, set in 2014 by... any guesses?

I think Hawkins and Barnum are on their way out of the organization once WS players start pushing for a call-up. It's become obvious they aren't good ball players.

 

Good grief has that Barons offense been bad. Really no players doing anything much so far this year.

[fathom]

Giolito hits the wall once again. Hard to believe how bad he's been

 

7.31 ERA and 1.76 WHIP

Edited May 9, 2017 by fathom

[caulfield12]

Hahn better hope Dunning and Lopez make it, because it's looking like they couldn't have missed the mark much more on Giolito if they were blindfolded scouts.

 

Hopefully they were psychologists too, because it seems like the process of completely changing his mechanics have led to an abrupt fall in confidence...which presumably began when he got lit up at the major league level last year and hasn't reversed since then.

 

Whether it's physical, mental...they need to try SOMETHING different. Let him skip a start and just let him observe what's going on around him, slow things down. Send him to Chicago and let him work with Don Cooper for a week or two (not on the active roster). They need to brainstorm and figure out a way to reverse this tail-spin.

 

(Note: I realize the "spin" on this will now be that Giolito would never have been available were these flaws not readily apparent...and had the Sox staff not believed they had a fix or solution. I guess we'll see if they can earn their money.)

Edited May 9, 2017 by caulfield12

[reiks12]

giolito is awful

 

I am at 90% panic concerning him

 

Luckily Lopez has been getting a bit better

[Jerksticks]

Demoting Giolito won't help his command and control. I think it would hurt his development having worse hitters flailing away at his garbage control. I'd almost like him to get a callup to work with Coop.

 

I think they called up Fulmer last year to show him that whatever he was doing in the minors wasn't going to work in the majors. Everyone got all pissy that he wasn't ready but I think the brass was proving to him that he needed to change something.

[fathom]

giolito is awful

 

I am at 90% panic concerning him

 

Luckily Lopez has been getting a bit better

 

Giolito has all the makings of a reliever to me. Ironic considering everyone said he would be a starter and Lopez wouldn't

[fathom]

Demoting Giolito won't help his command and control. I think it would hurt his development having worse hitters flailing away at his garbage control. I'd almost like him to get a callup to work with Coop.

 

I think they called up Fulmer last year to show him that whatever he was doing in the minors wasn't going to work in the majors. Everyone got all pissy that he wasn't ready but I think the brass was proving to him that he needed to change something.

 

Agreed on everything

[Jerksticks]

Hahn better hope Dunning and Lopez make it, because it's looking like they couldn't have missed the mark much more on Giolito if they were blindfolded scouts.

 

Hopefully they were psychologists too, because it seems like the process of completely changing his mechanics have led to an abrupt fall in confidence...which presumably began when he got lit up at the major league level last year and hasn't reversed since then.

 

Whether it's physical, mental...they need to try SOMETHING different. Let him skip a start and just let him observe what's going on around him, slow things down. Send him to Chicago and let him work with Don Cooper for a week or two (not on the active roster). They need to brainstorm and figure out a way to reverse this tail-spin.

 

(Note: I realize the "spin" on this will now be that Giolito would never have been available were these flaws not readily apparent...and had the Sox staff not believed they had a fix or solution. I guess we'll see if they can earn their money.)

 

I think most people make the mistake of thinking the Sox targetted Gio as the prize of the trade. I would bet money he was looked at as the third piece.

 

[caulfield12]

Except with Giolito, his confidence is already shot.

 

Exposing him to getting destroyed in Chicago won't do anything. It's not a matter of "wiping that confident smirk off his face" to make him more open to advice from the coaching staff.

 

Unless there's something going on with him and he's not listening to them, listening to someone from the outside or his family...granted, that's all speculative, certainly someone at Future Sox who is close to the AAA coaching staff/pitching coach must have some insight, although I'm sure it will never get out for media purposes until the interventions start working successfully.

 

 

[fathom]

Except with Giolito, his confidence is already shot.

 

Exposing him to getting destroyed in Chicago won't do anything. It's not a matter of "wiping that confident smirk off his face" to make him more open to advice from the coaching staff.

 

Unless there's something going on with him and he's not listening to them, listening to someone from the outside or his family...granted, that's all speculative, certainly someone at Future Sox who is close to the AAA coaching staff/pitching coach must have some insight, although I'm sure it will never get out for media purposes until the interventions start working successfully.

 

Lots of speculation by you here. Personally I just think his fastball is unplayable. No command and horrible spin rate (assuming it hasn't improved)

[Feeky Magee]

I'd be a bit more bullish on Giolito than others are here. Seems the velocity is there which was arguably the biggest concern about him. The strikeouts are there (reduced K's is the number one indicator of a pitcher in trouble to me). What he needs to regain is fastball control, which it seems to me is easier to regain than velocity/stuff. He's had it most of his career. He is apparently reworking his delivery. I wouldn't be panicking yet. He's definitely not the prospect he was but there's absolutely no need to be writing him off.

[Rowand44]

I'd be a bit more bullish on Giolito than others are here. Seems the velocity is there which was arguably the biggest concern about him. The strikeouts are there (reduced K's is the number one indicator of a pitcher in trouble to me). What he needs to regain is fastball control, which it seems to me is easier to regain than velocity/stuff. He's had it most of his career. He is apparently reworking his delivery. I wouldn't be panicking yet. He's definitely not the prospect he was but there's absolutely no need to be writing him off.

I'm with you. He's FAR from a sure thing and as I've said a ton now he's a huge project at this point but he's still a very legit project. And Caulfield you have no clue where Gio's confidence is, it's a ridiculous assumption to say his confidence is shot.

Edited May 9, 2017 by Rowand44

[caulfield12]

Well, that's all we can do here for now.

 

But yeah, if you throw 93-95 and don't know where it's going and have to throw it when behind in the count, you're going to get killed.

 

You're probably still going to get killed at 96-98 MPH.

 

He absolutely has to get his offspeed stuff over the plate to keep them off the fastball and vary his pitch selection tendencies.

 

I remember when Felipe Paulino was up with the Sox after all those injuries, he was throwing about as hard or harder than Giolito but he absolutely got killed. It's about a lot more than velocity, as you mentioned. There's location, and especially movement. Some prefer to go with spin rate. I'm not sure what's going on between the two and four seam fastball, if he's having trouble with both or one pitch specifically or what the heck's going on with him. Maybe his two-seamer's not getting that good sinking action and he's leaving it out over the plate and hitters are feasting on it? Obviously the four-seamer is the one that should be the highest velocity, but he's off by 2-4 MPH with that pitch compared to a year or so ago.

 

 

 

[Feeky Magee]

Matt Cooper went 4.2 with 4 hits, 3 earned runs (left 2 runners who were both allowed score), 5 walks and 9 strikeouts.

 

The worst strikeout rate in Southern League history (minimum 70 PA) is 45.1%, set in 2014 by... any guesses?

This was Keenyn Walker btw.

[caulfield12]

I was going to guess Jared Mitchell.

 

He was probably 3rd or 4th.

 

But too recent.

[Feeky Magee]

Nicky Delmonico now has 14 walks and 16 strikeouts on the year.

[maxjusttyped]

Nicky Delmonico now has 14 walks and 16 strikeouts on the year.

Why hasn't Asche been DFA's and Delmonico called up yet?

[caulfield12]

They probably think Delmonico needs another month or two of seasoning at AAA, after he struggled there at the end of last season.

 

That said, if Asche continues to hit .100ish, they might have no choice.