Gianluigi Ciottone; A Long Road to the Majors

With their 1st round pick and the 31st overall pick in the 2016 amateur draft, the Jersey Shore D-Bags selected SP Gianluigi Ciottone, a 4-year starter form the University of Nebraska.  Starting 42 games as the primary ace of the staff, Ciottone averaged over 11 K/9 while accumulating an ERA of 3.58 and a WHIP of 1.19. Ciottone was 22 at the time of the draft and while his third pitch (changeup) wasn't that strong, Jersey management viewed him as a mid-rotation starter who was matured enough to a candidate to shoot up the minor league ranks quickly and possibly see the major league roster in as little as a year.  They were wrong.

After being drafted he was sent to AA Gainesville where his current talent should have pushed him, but he was dominated.  He walked 6.5 batters per 9, which resulted in more walks than K's and led to a 2-9 record with an abysmal 8.02 ERA in 14 starts.  Perplexed by the results he started the 2017 in A Manhattan where he did walk 2 batters less her 9 while his K/9 nearly doubled.  He was still getting hit fairly hard but his BABIP of .354 led Jersey brass to believe it was more a defensive problem than Ciottone's pitching.  Towards the end of the 2017 season he was sent to AA and slotted in the bullpen to ease him into a starting role.  In 11 appearances at age 23, he pitched 12.2 innings, gave up 15 hits, 3 HR, 8 walks and struck out 10.  Good for a 7.82 ERA to finish out the year.  Again perplexed by these results he would again start the 2018 season in A ball.  He turned 24 during the 2018 season making him one of the older players in the league.  While he did improve on his rate stats, he still gave up more hits than innings pitched and was still walking over 4 batters per 9.  

When the 2019 season rolled around, management really had no other option than let him pitch in AA.  When he was drafted, ownership pictured him starting the season in the BSA already, while in reality he barely had any success, even in A ball.  His 24-25 year old season in AA he finally started to show some promise.  Maybe it was because he was taken completely out of a starting role.  He pitched 77 games out of the bullpen, mainly in the setup role.  In 90 innings he allowed 75 hits, 41 walks and struck out 108 batters.  While still walking 4.1 batters per 9 he was back up over 10K per 9 for the first time since college.  As the 2020 season rolled around, Ciottonne was now 25, in his last half a season considered a prospect and hadn't seen AAA yet.  At this point, a 1st round pick should be considered a bust.  Gianluigi would start the year in AAA as a member of the Tuscaloosa bullpen.  He would only see 6 games before injuries on the big league club pushed him into the starting rotation.  In 32 starts he would win 10 games while posting a 5.44 ERA to go along wit ha 1.67 WHIp and a .357 BABIP.  The good news was his walks had fell below 4 per 9 for the first time in his professional career while his K's stayed at 8 per 9.  Maybe there was hope.  He was added to the 40 man roster before the Rule V draft and would head back to AAA to start the 2021 season.  In 9 starts he would go 4-1 posting a 3.67 ERA (best ever since college) as well as lowering his walks to 2.8 per 9 innings.  When Jose Lara forgot how to pitch Jersey came calling and Ciottone would make his debut.

3 days after his 27th birthday and a month short of 5 years after being drafted, Ciottone started against Madison and while he didn't earn the win he pitched 6.2 innings giving up 2 runs on 8 hits while walking 3 and striking out 2.  He would go on to win his next 4 starts and would undeafeated in his first 7 starts compiling a 4-0 record.  Ciottone would  go through a rough patch in his next starts giving up at least 5 ER in all 4 going 1-3 before just last week having the best start of his career.  Against division rival St. Louis, the team Jersey is also chasing for the Wild Card, Gianluigi would throw his first career complete game, holding the Browns to 1 run on 6 hits, walking just 1 while striking out 4 in a 7-1 win.  In 12 starts for Jersey he has a record of 6-3 a 4.06 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP.  

While it may have taken a lot longer than expected and while he isn't an ace the 1st round pick of 2016 looks like it is finally starting to pay off.  One interesting fact about Gianluigi is that since being draft in ever level he has never had a BABIP lower than .310 and has had a FIP lower than his ERA in every single stop he has made along the way.  That's 8 stops including this year in the BSA.  Does he have misleading numbers? Is the defense that bad?  Is he just unlucky?  It's really hard to say at this point.  If he keeps it up though he will find a spot in the Jersey rotation for the foreseeable future though.  He is set to pitch against the Titans in today's sim down in Toronto against a tough lineup.  With both teams looking for a win to stay in the playoff picture we will see how he succumbs to the pressure.

GO D-BAGS