Baseball America No. 1 Nats prospect: Lucas Giolito

The upcoming season will be a great opportunity for top pitching prospect Lucas Giolito to show what he can do against the best hitters in the Carolina League pitching for high Single-A Potomac.

As he said last week, he is ready to come out "guns a-blazing," now two years out from Tommy John surgery. He admitted that he has felt 100 percent healthy for over a year, feeling strong enough and confident enough in his arm as he rolled to a 10-2 record for low Single-A Hagerstown in just 98 innings.

When you ask Giolito, even though it has not been confirmed, he even believes there's a good shot Potomac will be his first destination this season.

"I look forward to obviously, possibly, coming (to Potomac) or wherever I'm going, and pitching the best I can and being with a good group of guys," he said.

And if Giolito can prove he belongs at Potomac, he could very well make his move to Double-A Harrisburg sometime this season, too. He has all the pitching tools needed, with an upper 90's fastball, a wicked curveball and an advanced changeup that he said is actually finding its mark more precisely post-surgery.

"I feel that the higher you move up, the hitters that you face have a more disciplined approach," Giolito said. "You definitely need to be able to throw more strikes to each side of the plate, command your pitches better. I feel that gives you a better chance at success the higher you move up."

P-Nats manager Tripp Keister remembers Giolito from his early days at Hagerstown and says the 20-year-old brings not only great pitching skill but also another factor that is rare to see at this level.

"He's got a tremendous mound presence," Giolito said. "The ball explodes out of his hand. He's got tremendous angle and his breaking ball is a power breaking ball. From what I understand, he's getting a better feel for his changeup. You're talking about three pitches. Apparently, the fastball is a plus-plus pitch. It's exciting. You have tools and talent sometimes it doesn't matter how old you are.

"He's 19, 20 years old and he has got that type of ability and those tools, and it's going to be fun to try to get him to be consistent and get that mindset to repeat that everyday. That's obviously the challenge that we face. He can be a special young man in our organization, no question."

That is why Baseball America has Giolito has its obvious choice as the top Nationals prospect.

No. 1: Lucas Giolito

Baseball America editor-in-chief John Manuel says Giolito is the best minor league pitching prospect in the National League East. And the major reason is his curveball.

"For me, he's the best prospect in the division on the mound," Manuel said. "He's just very unique. You just don't get this kind of combination of power, coordination and the ability spin a breaking ball. That's the separating factor. He doesn't just have to blow you away with the fastball. He spins it. That's what everybody is looking for."

And Manuel said it's not just the breaking ball, it's other undeniable fact that Giolito is an imposing 6-foot-6, 255 lbs. coming down off the mound. The mound presence that Keister refers to.

"Will it translate? We just don't see guys this big," Manuel said. "I think it's hard to find a comparison point. There's nobody in the big leagues that looks like this guy. He is big."