Giolito pick draws rave reviews
By Dan Kolko
After being selected by the Nationals in the first round of the First-Year Player Draft, I'm told Lucas Giolito received a congratulatory text message.
That text was from none other than Bryce Harper.
Quite a classy, veteran-like move by the 19-year-old former first-round pick, if you ask me, welcoming the 17-year-old Giolito to the organization.
At right is a picture of Giolito taken last night and passed along by the right-hander's high school coach, Matthew LaCour. Apparently when Giolito went to the Nats with the No. 16 overall pick last night, a few of the right-hander's friends went out and bought him a Nationals hat after and hand-delivered it to him.
Looks pretty good on him, doesn't it?
If you're a "Seinfeld" fan, as I am, you'll appreciate this little nugget: Giolito's grandfather, an actor, played the role of Susan Ross' father (George Costanza's father-in-law-to-be) on the show.
Cherish the cabin.
Giolito's mother and father are both actors, as well, and his high school teammate Max Fried was also a first-round pick last night, taken No. 7 overall by the Padres. Not a bad night for the folks at Harvard-Westlake High School in Studio City, Calif.
Draft analysts seem to almost universally be praising the Nats' selection of Giolito, a pick which comes with some risk, but plenty of upside.
As Baseball America executive editor Jim Callis told MASNsports.com's Byron Kerr last night, "The Nationals may have just done it again."
This is now four years in a row that the Nats have ended up with a guy who at least a portion of talent evaluators believe to be the top prospect in terms of ceiling and pure skill in the draft class.
The two No. 1 overall picks in 2009 and 2010 netted the Nationals Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper, and last year, they got Anthony Rendon at No. 6, a third baseman who could have been the top selection if not for a shoulder injury which scared away some teams.
We'll have to see if the Nats can both sign Giolito and get him healthy. But if they do, and if he is, they might have just gotten even richer in the top-flight pitching department.
At right is a picture of Giolito taken last night and passed along by the right-hander's high school coach, Matthew LaCour. Apparently when Giolito went to the Nats with the No. 16 overall pick last night, a few of the right-hander's friends went out and bought him a Nationals hat after and hand-delivered it to him.
Looks pretty good on him, doesn't it?
If you're a "Seinfeld" fan, as I am, you'll appreciate this little nugget: Giolito's grandfather, an actor, played the role of Susan Ross' father (George Costanza's father-in-law-to-be) on the show.
Cherish the cabin.
Giolito's mother and father are both actors, as well, and his high school teammate Max Fried was also a first-round pick last night, taken No. 7 overall by the Padres. Not a bad night for the folks at Harvard-Westlake High School in Studio City, Calif.
Draft analysts seem to almost universally be praising the Nats' selection of Giolito, a pick which comes with some risk, but plenty of upside.
As Baseball America executive editor Jim Callis told MASNsports.com's Byron Kerr last night, "The Nationals may have just done it again."
This is now four years in a row that the Nats have ended up with a guy who at least a portion of talent evaluators believe to be the top prospect in terms of ceiling and pure skill in the draft class.
The two No. 1 overall picks in 2009 and 2010 netted the Nationals Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper, and last year, they got Anthony Rendon at No. 6, a third baseman who could have been the top selection if not for a shoulder injury which scared away some teams.
We'll have to see if the Nats can both sign Giolito and get him healthy. But if they do, and if he is, they might have just gotten even richer in the top-flight pitching department.
LATEST ORIOLES NEWS
LATEST NATIONALS NEWS
About the author
By accepting you will be accessing a service provided by a third-party external to https://www.masnsports.com/