Game theory: How ‘MLB The Show' became a key part of Lucas Giolito's pre-start preparation

Boston Globe

3 days ago

The game has been a central element of Giolito's preparation since 2019. After a dreadful 2018 season (10-13, 6.13 ERA) as a 23-year-old with the White Sox, the righthander recognized the need to change not only how he was attacking hitters, but how he was digesting scouting reports.
Advertisement
'I was so bad that I had to make some changes. So that was one of my changes — taking the scouting work more seriously, but also doing it in a way that works for me,' recalled Giolito. 'When I was in high school, I didn't like sitting down and studying for tests. I would always pay attention in class and be an active participant in the classroom, asking questions, talking — active learning. But sitting down with my head in a book and just trying to memorize information was never really my forte."
Get Starting Point
A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.
Enter Email
Sign Up
A friend, citing Giolito's enjoyment of video games, suggested it might be a good fit for his learning style. Giolito hadn't played The Show for years, but decided to give it a try.
Advertisement
The 2019 season was a breakout year. Giolito went 14-9 with a 3.41 ERA and 228 strikeouts for the White Sox, earned an All-Star berth, and finished sixth in AL Cy Young balloting.
A
Giolito faces off against the computer rather than live opponents. That can produce some unrealistic outcomes at higher difficulty levels, such as early swings on fastballs or low chase rates on some of the pitcher's bread-and-butter swing-and-miss weapons.
'They very rarely swing at balls,' Giolito said, estimating a 5-10 percent swing rate on, say, an 0-2 high fastball. His real-life repertoire is also slightly different; Giolito says he's throwing his slider a few ticks harder than it appears in the game.
Still, those nitpicks do little to detract from the overall value of the exercise — or from the positive reinforcement of dominating his opponent.
'There's the visualization aspect, where I'm seeing myself execute the pitches the way I want to, and the sequences I want to execute,' said Giolito. 'I'm seeing it happen and I'm doing it actively.'
It does all come with occasional moments of breaking-the-fourth-wall levity. Giolito's play is known to the game's developers, to the point where the play-by-play broadcast
'It's very meta, because as I'm doing it, I hear the announcer describe my process,' said Giolito. 'It's pretty funny.'
Not everything about Giolito's experience is flattering. As of the most recent software update of the game in June, the pitcher had a 68 rating — down considerably from the 80s during a 2019-21 peak in which he received Cy Young votes in three straight years.
Advertisement
That low rating came shortly after Giolito's nadir this year, a seven-run, five-out start
In his most recent outing, Giolito had a 54-degree arm angle on his four-seam fastball and an average release height of 6.26 feet — up about 4 degrees and three inches from earlier this year. That slot has allowed his fastball to start beating hitters again at and above the top of the zone, while also setting up his repertoire to work down.
The result? Giolito has a 0.72 ERA in those four starts, averaging more than six innings with a 25 percent strikeout rate and 7 percent walk rate.
What rating would Giolito (4-1, 3.99 ERA for the season) give this version of himself?
'An 80?' he surmised. 'I don't concern myself too much with [the game rating]. It gets the job done. It still does. … When I play, I pitch great.'
On Friday, he will hope that life imitates gaming art.
Alex Speier can be reached at