Nationals to Hold Giolito and Lopez Back… For Now
By Wayne Cavadi
Michael Taylor and Steven Souza, Jr. are two of the bigger names that won’t be returning to the Syracuse Chiefs roster in 2015 after they put up an International League best record of 81-62 in 2014. The brightest start in the Washington Nationals appears to have to wait to make his Chiefs’ debut as well.
MiLB.com reports that the Nationals have kept Lucas Giolito back in Florida for extended spring training instead of assigning him to a minor league roster just yet. The Nationals’ No. 1 prospect (and Grading on the Curve’s No. 4 rated prospect in all of baseball) will be joined by their No. 4 prospect Reynaldo Lopez in Florida. But for how long?
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"“We wanted to monitor every step of the way from a physical perspective,” assistant general manager Doug Harris was quoted on MiLB. “There are no [physical] issues whatsoever. They are in their mound progression. They will be a couple of weeks behind, but they both look very good.”"
Giolito seems to be on the Stephen Strasburg plan. The Nationals’ 2012 first round draft pick needed Tommy John surgery in 2012 and has been on an innings limit since then. He pitched just 36.2 inning in his 2013 comeback season and 98 last year. Giolito was exciting over those 98 innings, going 10-2 with a 2.20 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and striking out 110.
“We anticipate coming close to that [innings total], probably coming close to that again this year,” Harris said. “It will give us an opportunity to monitor every step of the program and in the end, it’s going to be a nominal innings difference. But it gives us the ability to control every step of it early on.”
Lopez, the 21-year old righty, also missed a full season from injury, his being in 2013. He bounced back with an amazing 2014 over two levels, compiling a 7-3 record with a 1.08 ERA, 0.82 WHIP while striking out 70 in 83.1 combined innings. He held opponents to a .149 batting average.
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As they are doing with Giolito, holding Lopez back a bit longer will help limit both future rotation pieces in innings while allowing them to pitch down the stretch. Both will be throwing live batting practice in extended spring training over the next several days and are expected to join High-A Potomac by the end of April. If both come out with their guns firing like last season, they should jump up the Nationals’ minor league ladder pretty quickly this season. A Syracuse Chiefs debut is not out of the question.