CHICAGO -- There is no off-switch where Lucas Giolito's competitive fire is concerned.
So even though the White Sox All-Star will be facing the Angels as one of his four games Thursday night in the MLB The Show 2020 Players League instead of starting at Angel Stadium as the 2020 regular season schedule dictates, the experienced video gamer maintains a similar laser-like focus. Jason Benetti can attest to that fact.
The White Sox television voice has joined Giolito through some of these recent games, lending his broadcasting skills to the event through Twitch. He’ll ask Giolito a question usually three or four times during a game before getting an answer because Giolito won’t avert his focus from the action.
“He gets a kick out of that, and I kind of feel bad,” Giolito told MLB.com during a recent phone conversation. “I’m trying to win. I’m not just there to coast by.”
“There are these moments where you are like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve lost him, where is he? What’s happening?’” said Benetti with a laugh. “Then he has this trigger in his mind where he’ll hear it in eight seconds and then responds.”
Giolito’s work in the Players League is somewhat akin to the 2020 White Sox standing prior to the coronavirus pandemic postponing action. The White Sox did not receive a great deal of love in the MLB The Show ratings department, with only Giolito, José Abreu and Yasmani Grandal above an 80.
Evan Marshall, who posted a 2.49 ERA over 55 appearances in a standout 2019 campaign, is a 58 overall, per Giolito. That rating leaves him as not even a usable player.
“I know the way they do it is that they update ratings on a weekly basis based on how teams are playing and how players are playing,” Giolito said. “So, I’d like to think if we were playing right now, we’d be playing well, and our in-game ratings would be a little bit better to support that.
“It’s pretty ridiculous because [Marshall] was one of our main middle relief guys last year and had such great numbers. He has such great stuff. So, there’s some frustrations, but [I'm] just overcoming it.”
Overcoming it, as in Giolito held a 13-5 record atop the AL Central entering Thursday’s action and was in the Top 8 playoff picture. His results were better than the ratings dictated, much like the White Sox thought they could be in ’20 while transforming from a three-year-rebuild into planned contention.
As the player/coach, Giolito made the decision to remove Alex Colomé as closer after Colomé gave up a walk-off homer against the Yankees. Cutters in MLB The Show are not really a good pitch and are easier to track than a guy throwing 100 mph with a curve, according to Giolito.
“But again, you have to make some tough decisions when you are managing the virtual White Sox,” Giolito said. “Honestly, I’m just craving competition. What I should be doing right now is like living out of a suitcase, being on a plane three out of seven days a week and waking up each morning with a goal to improve. If I’m pitching that day, it will be like ‘Ok, I’m going to win this game today.’
“Now I’m just sitting at home. It’s so weird, so different. It’s like alien to me. Being able to be a part of this tournament, I think it’s great for the fans. I think it’s great for us players as well just being able to have some sort of competition, something to keep us a little occupied. I’ve had a lot of fun with it.”
Dallas Keuchel is Giolito’s favorite pitcher to use because according to Giolito, he’s the only pitcher on the White Sox staff who, if he executes everything perfectly, can send a pitch to the desired spot. He’s had a three-inning no-hitter with Keuchel, losing a perfect game by accidentally throwing the ball to shortstop instead of first on a dropped third strike. He’s also had a no-hitter using himself.
This competition provides an interactive forum with the fans watching the games. But the ace hurler looks forward to entertaining these same fans through actual White Sox baseball.
“We were so excited in Spring Training with what we were building, the new guys we had,” Giolito said. “Just like the general vibe or feel we had as teammates as a team in general, we thought that we were going to start the season hot and that we had a very, very good chance to impress a lot of people, turn some heads.
“It just [stinks] kind of missing out on that right now. Just the competition, that’s what we feed off of as athletes and not having that, it just puts us in a very weird place.”