Giolito tossed four scoreless innings Tuesday in his season debut with Double-A Harrisburg on 59 total pitches. He struck out four, walked three and allowed only one hit.
All three of his walks came in his final inning of work, putting a slight damper on an otherwise fantastic debut outing for the game's top pitching prospect. The key takeaway here is that the Nationals appear poised to keep Giolito's pitch counts low in the minor leagues in order to get more work out of him at the big league level later this season. It's anyone's guess as to when Washington might call upon their top pitching prospect, and the fact that he's at Double-A doesn't necessarily mean he will need to get his feet wet at Triple-A first, as several big league clubs have shown the propensity to have their top pitching prospects bypass Triple-A altogether. Tanner Roark allowed three runs on nine hits in four innings in his first start of the year, and if he continues to struggle as the Nationals' fifth starter, Giolito could be up a lot sooner than most expected.