Chicago White Sox: Three young players to watch in 2018

1. Lucas Giolito

I know it was just Spring Training, but it was a bit hard not to be impressed with Giolito’s dominating camp this year after the roller coaster that was 2017.

When the young right-hander was going 6-10 with a 4.48 ERA for Class AAA Charlotte last season, I’m not sure many of us were expecting this just yet.

The strikeouts were there (134 in minors vs. just 59 walks), but he simply wasn’t missing bats enough (122 hits in 128.2 innings pitched). In particular, the long ball was an issue for him (17 surrendered).

Then, the White Sox called him up in September of last season, and suddenly, Giolito was pitching like a new man. Sure, he did it with a limited sample size (seven starts, 45.1 IP), for those that want to point that out. But he showed off major-league stuff and acquitted himself very well (2.38 ERA, 31 hits allowed, 34 strikeouts vs. 12 walks, 0.949 WHIP).

This spring was no different as he mowed through hitters to the tune of a 2.04 ERA, 17 strikeouts vs. four walks and only 11 hits given up in 17.2 IP.

Whatever Don Cooper is telling him, especially when it comes to eating people alive with his breaking ball, has been working.

With Giolito likely to be the No. 2 starter in the rotation to start the year, he’ll get plenty of opportunities to prove himself, barring injury.

As such, he has a chance to demolish his 2018 projections in terms of sheer volume—he was only projected to throw 80 innings this season.

Also, the 3.94 ERA and 1.238 projections will be interesting to keep an eye on. Obviously, they’re not the be-all, end-all measures of importance, but if Giolito can beat those numbers by a good margin, he’ll likely be outperforming a lot of expectations.

And in doing so, he might just establish himself as a fixture at the top of this White Sox rotation for the foreseeable future. If Giolito can help this rotation start rounding into shape by the time next season starts, in addition to the other inevitable roster moves, the White Sox will officially be in business for a division title.