"A top of the rotation guy that you can get at 16? It was a no-brainier for us."
(Roy Clark, via Washington Nationals @Nationals, 6/4/2012)"It was a huge surprise but a pleasant one. It's a very exciting day. No one had any idea where I'd go. I could have gone anywhere. To go that early feels really good, especially after my arm was injured."
(Lucas Giolito, via LA Times, 6/4/2012)
And so, the Washington Nationals went the high-risk, high-ceiling route with the #16 pick in the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft, selecting RHP Lucas Giolito out of Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.). That Mike Rizzo took a flyer on a kid with elbow problems is not all that surprising; what's shocking is that Mike Rizzo selected a kid who isn't represented by Scott Boras with his top pick this year (Gio Lite? Giolito is a Brodie Van Wagenen/CAA guy).
Anyway, here's some video of that time Nat Gio II threw a no-no as a junior in 2011:
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