Is Lucas Giolito A Bad Fit For Fenway Park?
Lucas Giolito has signed with the Red Sox, but are we sure this partnership is going to prove fruitful? In reality, the Giolito contract is a prove it deal. Giolito has the chance to hit the market again in a year if he’s able to rebound in Boston.
Maybe we haven’t asked the right question about this deal. Will Giolito be able to produce while pitching in Fenway Park? It’s a pretty valid question considering that nobody gave up more homers in baseball last year.
Giolito, 29, is established as a fly ball pitcher. The former White Sox, Angels, and Guardians started posted a 29% flyball rate last year. He was at 28.7% the year prior. Do you really want a flyball pitcher in Fenway Park? Should Red Sox fans just prepare for an endless supply of meatballs that get rocked off the monster in left field?
Maybe the Red Sox have a plan. Maybe Giolito just needs to pitch better and it won’t be a problem. Giolito is a fastball, change up guy. It felt like last year a lot of Giolito’s problems were the fact that he kept hanging fastballs. He needs to do a better job at elevating his fastball and letting the change up eat. If that happens, maybe the ballpark isn’t a factor.
Also, Fenway is just weird. Some home runs turn into singles. It’s just the nature of the 37-foot wall. The biggest factor of all is the Sox just need to play better team defense than they did a year ago. Something that I went in length on during the offseason video.
The biggest thing that Giolito provides is innings. The Sox just don’t have enough bodies in that rotation. Despite sporting a 4.88 ERA last year, he still threw more than 188 innings. We’re about to find out if the plan set in place by Craig Breslow and Andrew Bailey does wonders for Giolito.
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