Washington Nationals pitcher Lucas Giolito is one of the top prospects in baseball, and he’s been drawing attention for his baking skills in recent weeks. But Giolito’s pitching arsenal is obviously far more important.
Of course, with any good pitcher, you will have endless ways to describe their ability to throw the ball. Some pitchers throw heat, some throw cheese, and some throw gas. Stuff can also be described as filthy, nasty and dirty. But Giolito’s stuff is so good, it’s gotten a description that we’ve never heard before.
Former Mets general manager Steve Phillips described Giolito as a monster on the mound, which is nothing new. It was the description of his curveball that is unprecedented.
“He’s got great angles with his fastball, it’s explosive out of his hand, and he’s just got a bowel-locking breaking ball that just locked guys up yesterday,” Phillips said via SiriusXM’s MLB Network Radio on Tuesday. Go ahead and read the last part of that sentence again. It’s not a typo.
1-2-3 inning for Lucas Giolito. Here’s a good look at his breaking ball freezing Brendan Ryan: pic.twitter.com/6sSJCByt2Y
— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) February 29, 2016
“I’m telling you, wow,” Phillips said, via the Washington Post. “… Ay yi yi. I’m watching this guy and the angles on his fastball, the downhill power, just domination. And then he broke off a hook and, I mean, my bowels locked when I saw that. Like, nobody’s gonna hit that thing.”
Giolito is so good, Jayson Werth told his fellow teammates they didn’t want to face him.
Lucas Giolito faced Werth, Harper, Chris Heisey, Tyler Moore & Trea Turner in live BP. Werth to teammates: "He's scary" & "nobody wants any"
— James Wagner (@ByJamesWagner) February 27, 2016
That’s some pretty good praise for a young gun such as Giolito. As much praise and hype as we saw from Stephen Strasburg, Giolito sounds just as much of an intriguing prospect, if not more.
But you know you’ve got good stuff when people are finding new ways to describe it. In the meantime, if Phillips continues to watch Giolito pitch, maybe the phenom can bake him some bran muffins or date cake to help with any issues that might develop.
