MASSIVE Red Sox Injury Update... This has MAJOR implications | Boston Red Sox News

We have some major updates on starting pitcher Lucas Giolito after he left his first spring training game with the Red Sox and really first game in over a calendar year with left hamstring tightness. I'm here to break down the severity of this injury as well as what to expect from Giolito this season. We'll break down all of that on this episode of Red Sox Digest, but first do remember if you're a part of the 86.5% currently watching this video. Not currently subscribed to the channel, scroll down and click the subscribe button. We do appreciate all the love and support in getting us to our goal of 2,000 subscribers, but we're not going to stop there. So again, thank you guys for the love and support, but now let's get to it and break down why it's not time to panic just yet when discussing Lucas Giolito, the starting pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. Now, he does have a history of substantial injuries. Now, if we quickly look back or we look at his baseball reference page and we look back Last year, or excuse me, two years ago in 2023, back when he played for the Los Angeles Angels as well as the Cleveland Guardians, if you look at the total innings pitched, it is not great. For a total of 32 and two-thirds with the Angels and then 30 and two-thirds with the Cleveland Guardians, not a great performance for the entirety of the season. But if you go back and you look from early stages of 2023 all the way back to 2021, You're seeing 178, 160, 190, 184, 121 innings pitched for Lucas Giolito. Someone who can rack up innings pitched. And mind you, he's not going to give you that 2.2, 2.5, and less ERA. He's more of the mid to high threes. And again, he's pretty good. If you go back and you look at that 2019, that 2020, and that 2021 season, Lucas Giolito was damn good at baseball. And I'm not just saying overall. I'm saying amongst the top guys in the world. He was an elite level player, an elite level pitcher who had great stuff. If you go back and look at the baseball savant pages for those specific years, again, his stuff was in the high percentiles. And again, there were things where it wasn't, again, in the 90th percentile or higher. But again, he was about league average and higher in basically every statistical category on baseball savant back in those years. And again, he had great seasons in the running for Cy Young, an all-star multiple, or two times it looks like. Again, a good overall player, but again, we have not seen that in some time because of the injuries and because of the lack of playing time and reps he can really put out on the diamond. Now, let's start with what happened yesterday. Lucas Giolito pitched in one inning. He gave up one hit, two earned runs, and two walks in striking out one. Posting an 18 ERA. Again, don't take the ERA for anything. Again, he only got to play one inning in his first start. And again, in over a year's worth of time. That is substantial. He's literally just trying to find his footing, find a groove, get that mojo feeling again, and be able to, again, find the groove of being able to be a starting pitcher in the MLB against other elite talent. And again, he left early. He left after this one inning of baseball because of left. Again, let's just quote the tweet from Sean McAdam. Lucas Giolito left after one inning because of left hamstring tightness. So again, the left hamstring tightening up on Lucas Giolito. I would assume that it happened about midway, if not just in the beginning of this first inning, that he started yesterday in that spring training game, resulting in him to really not have great control of his stuff and resulting in, again, Not the greatest first inning. One hit, or excuse me, one hit, two earned runs on two walks as well. Again, not the overall performance you're really looking for. Again, especially from someone who's just returning. But again, if they're dealing with injury in that first returning game, you can understand how things could not go their way. Then, we have another tweet from Ian Brownie, who then quotes Alex Cora. He goes on to say, Alex Cora said that Lucas Giolito will get an MRI tomorrow. He hopes to have more, to have more of an update on the situation by Thursday. Again, quoting Cora when he says, hopefully it's nothing major and he can make his next start. End of quote, Cora said. So again. We have an idea of what's going on. We don't really know how severe it is, at least based off of Cora's opinion. But what if I told you we had a quote in a video of a quote from Lucas Giolito himself on Northeastern Sports Network, NESN, if you will. On Twitter, as they went on to quote, or paraphrase, Lucas Giolito's quote, saying, Just an annoying little setback. I wouldn't even categorize this as an injury, really, at this point. Felt like it got tight on, or, yeah, got tight on me. End of quote from Lucas Giolito. Now, this is big. Why is this big? Because, again, Lucas was in good spirits. I'll tag the tweet down below. Again, from this account, and you guys can go watch the entirety of it as it's roughly 50 seconds long. And honestly, it's optimism. When you watch this, you should be optimistic when you do, because Lucas is strictly just a little bit frustrated. Obviously, he's not throwing his hands around. He's not throwing a fit or anything like that. But again, he is a bit frustrated when it comes to discussing this, because he simply just wants to play baseball. He wants to put reps out. On the diamond, he wants to be able to find his footing. He wants to be able to get back into a groove of playing baseball at a high level again. And due to substantial injuries time after time after time again, it seems like it's just becoming impossible for him to go out and do so. Now he returns for his first game in over a year's worth of time. And again, in one inning and not even a full inning's worth of work because we don't know exactly when it got tight on Lucas. It could have happened. Following the third out, it could have happened before the first pitch. It could have happened following the first pitch. Again, it could have happened any time during that first inning's duration. And because of that, you can't really give an exact assessment. We'll go with saying that despite getting this tightness in his left hamstring, he went on to finish that first inning of work. Then he did not come back to finish any or didn't come out to even pitch again following that first inning, which is extremely frustrating, which is something that he goes on to reiterate. And it's upsetting to see because if we go back to that baseball reference page, there are times in his career where he's pitching again, 170 plus innings, multiple times, 160 plus innings. 184 innings, and this is what we want to see. Someone who can collect 150-plus innings for the Boston Red Sox. And again, we're not looking for Lucas Giolito to be a Cy Young candidate. Granted, that would be awesome, and no one is going to complain if that's the case. But again, he is a guy that adds great depth to this starting rotation if he is present. Now, again... He doesn't have to give us the 2-2 ERA or sub-2 ERA, but to go out there and be a competent piece of depth for the Red Sox. Starting pitching rotation would be substantial, not only to the Red Sox, but for everyone that is trying to compete with the Red Sox, I think it'd be a great piece, and hopefully this is not going to be substantial for the Boston Red Sox, and specifically Lucas Giolito, who has been really battling with injuries, and hopefully he can get back to posting these four plus four seasons, and again, collecting wins on a very, very potent offense with the Boston Red Sox. I believe he still has the ability. If you guys don't remember, Lucas Giolito was one of the best, if not the best pitcher in the 2012 class coming out of high school. He was elite. He was dealing with UCL injuries back at that time. And again, despite that, one of the best players, I believe he was the best player in the state of California, as well as obviously the best pitcher in the state of California. And then for the nation, I believe he was in the top five or ten when it came to his position, as well as overall player. He has been phenomenal. They were comparing him. Two players like Garrett Cole coming out of high school, and I really want to see him continue to have a chance to perform healthy and really get a chance with this Red Sox organization to prove that he's still a guy who can collect 150 innings. Post a 3.5 ERA, if not just lower than that. Strike out a lot, and again, show that he is still a competent and capable pitcher on the MLB stage, while, again, just maintaining some health. I know if you look at the ERAs, they just, they're all over the place. Posting a 2.38, and again, only 6 appearances, that's not great, or in 45 innings. And that's good, but it's not great. Again, you move on six, ERA, get in the threes for a few years, then we're back in the fours, then we're in the threes again, then we're at six, and then seven with Cleveland. Again, he's been all over the place. And again, injuries have been a substantial factor in Lucas Giolito's career. entire career, which is upsetting, but hopefully this is the time and I'm just here to tell you don't panic yet based off of his and again, I'm going to tweet. I'm going to tag the tweet down below based off that interview. It seems like he is not overly frustrated. He's just a bit annoyed with the idea of being or being or going through another setback if you will before the MLB season even begin. But again, now is it do not panic just yet and I will see you guys on the next episode of Red Sox Digest.