TORONTO — Here’s something you don’t see every day in this age of metrics, analytics and oodles of available data in baseball clubhouses:
The use of a video game to prepare for a pitching performance. That’s what Lucas Giolito likes to do, as he shared on The Chris Rose Rotation podcast.
“I do my like video game thing with MLB: The Show, so I can really like kind of commit that stuff to memory and like practice like my sequences,” Giolito said. “Oh, I’m in this situation, what are the pitches that I feel very confident to get this guy out, get out of this situation.”
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Because the former All-Star had a down year in 2022, the video game makers dropped his rating. And he has to pitch with that character.
“I had a down year last year, so they made me like a 70 overall,” Giolito said. “So it’s like way harder to pitch with myself than it used to be. I think on MLB: The Show, I used to be like in the low 80s for my overall rating and I could like throw a slider and it would like go in the general direction that I aimed.
“Whereas now, since they made me really [bad] when I was preparing for my Twins game, it was actually hilarious because I knew that the slider would be an important pitch for me against the Twins.”
Giolito is 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA after pitching seven innings of one-run ball against the red-hot Tampa Bay Rays Sunday.
He was placed on the Bereavement List Monday.
