200 Innings Apiece For White Sox's Reynaldo Lopez, Lucas Giolito In 2018? 'Not Unrealistic' In Rick Hahn's Mind
(CBS) In a 2017 season that marked their first in a long-term rebuilding process, the White Sox were enthused by the development of many of their youngsters, including young right-handers Reynaldo Lopez and Lucas Giolito.
Both received call-ups to the big leagues in the second half. Lopez, 23, flashed his potential at times and encountered a rocky path in other situations, going 3-3 with a 4.72 ERA, 1.32 WHIP and 2.14 strikeout-to-walk ration. Giolito, 23, was splendid, going 3-3 with a 2.38 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 2.83 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Between Triple-A and the big leagues, Lopez logged 168 2/3 innings. Across the same stops, Giolito registered 174 innings.
Both marked career-highs. Now, as the attention turns to 2018, part of their development will include aiming for the 200-inning threshold, general manager Rick Hahn said on Inside the Clubhouse on 670 The Score.
"Both Giolito and Lopez last year essentially made the jump from the 130s innings threshold to about the 170 to 180 innings threshold between '16 and '17," Hahn said. "So at the very least, they're proven to themselves that they can come close to taking a full-year workload. And they both, as well as many of our other starters, are going to enter the 2018 season with the mindset that they're capable of throwing a full 200 innings. Now that said, you're certainly right that we do take the opportunity from time to time to skip a start or to take advantage of the All-Star break and give them extended time off so that they can recharge the batteries and finish the second half more strongly. But that's the same for guys across the board. We used to similar things with Chris Sale. It's not just for the young pitchers and the rookies. It's more responding to what you're seeing in terms of signs of fatigue out of the pitcher, what they're reporting, how the stuff looks, mechanically any deviations in their regular mechanics. So we try to be flexible and responsive to all the pitchers in the rotation, the young ones perhaps in particular as they try to carry that load for the first time.
"Certainly, Lucas and Reynaldo both have put themselves in a position where it's not unrealistic to hope for 200 innings in 2018, baseball gods willing."