The pitching rich Washington Nationals will be getting wealthier on Tuesday, when Lucas Giolito, the top prospect in baseball, makes his major league debut for the Nationals against the New York Mets and Matt Harvey.
Nationals manager Dusty Baker said in his daily meeting with the media that RHP @LGio27 will start for the #Nats tomorrow vs. the #Mets.
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) June 27, 2016
Giolito will be replacing Stephen Strasburg in the rotation, but likely just for one turn – Strasburg was placed on the disabled list Sunday, but the move was retroactive to June 16th, meaning that he’s on track to make his next start on Sunday against the Reds.
The 21-year old Giolito, who turns 22 in July, was the Nationals’ first round pick (16th overall) in the 2012 MLB Draft. He made just one appearance in 2012 after being drafted and soon underwent Tommy John surgery before coming back to the hill in 2013. He’s spent this season with AA Harrisburg, pitching to a 3.17 ERA in 71 innings to go along with 72 strikeouts and 34 walks. However, many of those struggles came early in the season, and he has 47 strikeouts to just 14 walks over his last 40 2/3 innings and seven starts.
Even if it’s just a spot start for Giolito, this shows the strength of Washington’s pitching throughout their organization. In addition to Giolito and their five-man MLB starting rotation (Strasburg, Max Scherzer, Joe Ross, Tanner Roark, and Gio Gonzalez), they also just promoted 22-year old Reynaldo Lopez from AA to AAA Syracuse after he led the Eastern League with 100 strikeouts in 76 1/3 innings. Lopez will join 24-year old A.J. Cole, a four-time top 100 prospect, in Syracuse’s rotation.
Now, if only they could fix their lagging offense….
