Despite starting his high school senior season as the best prep pitcher in the 2012 MLB Draft class, Washington Nationals' right hander Lucas Giolito was selected 16th overall while being the third high school pitcher taken. Why? Three months prior to what would be the biggest moment of his life, the California native sprained his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), causing him to slide down the draft board. He elected to undergo Tommy John surgery after agreeing to a rookie contract with a $2.925 million signing bonus. 

After going underneath the knife, it would not be until 2014 that Giolito would make a full professional campaign as he lived up to his hype by going 10-2 with a 2.20 ERA, and 110 strikeouts in 98 innings pitched at Hagerstown (Single-A).

Although he clearly dominated South Atlantic League (Single-A) hitters, analysts still were not sold on the starter with no experience above Single-A being the best pitching prospect in baseball entering the 2015 season. The reasoning  of MLB.com rating him number one would become clear quickly as his ability to keep hitters off balance complements his repitore of pitches, which includes a fastball that hits the upper 90s regularly and tops out at 100 miles-per-hour, in addition to a nasty 12-to-6 power curve.

This season, MLB.com's number three overall prospect has followed with another solid season on the mound by going 3-5 with a 2.71 ERA and 86 strikeouts in 69.2 frames of work (13 games) with Potomac (Single-A Advanced). In addition, the two-time All-Star Futures Game selection has fanned eight ot more batters in five appearances.

With all the previous in consideration, the Washington Nationals saw the right time to move their top prospect to Harrisburg (Double-A) after a good six inning performance on July 23rd, in which he allowed only one earned run and whiffed six against Frederick.

The 21-year-old will make his Double-A debut in a pitching showdown versus MLB.com's 69th prospect Jeff Hoffman tomorrow night in Manchester, New Hampshire, as the Harrisburg Senators and the New Hampshire Fishercats (affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays) get together for game two of a three game series.
 

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About the author
Peyton Wesner
Editor, that has loved and watched sports. He enjoys traveling the country to watch division one college basketball and professional baseball, basketball, and football. In addition, Peyton is a huge enthusiast of Missouri Valley Conference basketball and International League (Triple-A) baseball as he focuses about these topics and many more on his sports blog Courtside with PW at http://courtsidewpw.blogspot.com/?m=1. You can contact him through his email, [email protected], or his twitter, @courtsidewpw.