It always seems overly simplistic to say that a key to a pitcher’s success is to throw strikes and to throw strikes early in the count. That’s the kind of thing players and coaches say in postgame interviews, and it’s always more complicated than that. In Giolito’s case, it is, but the whole strike-throwing thing or lack thereof was a big part of his struggles early in the season as well as his success on Wednesday. Through five starts, Giolito threw a first-pitch strike just 45 percent of the time (the league average is 59 percent). Wednesday, he upped that to 71 percent (17-of-24), including a first-pitch strike to 10 of the first 11 batters he faced.

Getting ahead, particularly with the fastball, is so important for Giolito. His velocity sat 91-94 throughout Wednesday’s start, which is in line with what we’ve seen this season. I don’t know if we’re going to see the kind of velocity we displayed in Spring Training, but if this is where his fastball is going to be going forward, he proved he can still find success. Using it to get ahead and not allowing Cardinals hitters to square anything up gave Giolito to unleash his breaking balls, which he showed can still be devastating when he has all his toys working. Giolito earned his top prospect pedigree not all that long ago, in part, because of his plus-plus curveball. On Wednesday, though, it was his slider  — something he added to his arsenal just last year — that gave hitters fits. He threw it 21 times on the day and induced eight whiffs, per Brooks Baseball. Of his season-high seven strikeouts, five ended on a slider, all of the swinging variety.

Through five innings, Giolito matched Cardinals’ ace Carlos Martinez pitch-for-pitch, throwing up zeros just the same as his counterpart. But the sixth and seventh innings showed just how razor-thin his margin for error can be. Martinez, who had just six extra-base hits and zero home runs in 225 career plate appearances coming in, took a first-pitch fastball (hey, at least it was a strike!) from Giolito out to break a scoreless tie. From that point on, his command wavered. He walked the next two batters (including Matt Carpenter on four pitches), and his day ended the next inning when he grooved a fastball that Dexter Fowler took out for a two-run homer.

Finding both consistency from start-to-start as well as within a start are going to be an important factor in Giolito becoming an integral part of the rotation as opposed to an erratic and frustratingly inconsistent one. Wednesday was just one start, and the results were merely adequate if not overwhelmingly positive. Still, it was a solid step in him righting the ship after a forgettable April.

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Despite the risk of building a future on pitching prospects being widely known, it often falls to the back of our minds. The flashy stuff, high velocity, and success seen in the minors distract us from the harsh possibilities that come with pitching prospects. This is of special interest to the White Sox, who recently saw an influx of pitching talent into the farm system.

Lucas Giolito has already undergone Tommy John surgery once before. Michael Kopech and Reynaldo Lopez both have electric arms but somewhat erratic deliveries that could potentially lead to injury. Carson Fulmer‘s similarly unorthodox delivery puts him at risk, while Alec Hansen and Zack Burdi aren’t immune, either.

This is not to say that the White Sox are doomed for failure because all of their pitchers will suddenly fall apart at some point. However, the injury to Reyes, before he even made a significant impact on the Cardinals, reminds us of one of the worst possible scenarios in the White Sox rebuild. Each of the pitchers at the top of the White Sox farm system carries a level of risk in terms of starting or relieving. In a similar, but much more frightening way, each of the top pitching prospects in the White Sox system carries a significant injury risk.

What this means is that the White Sox rebuild could quickly and easily be derailed by one or more of the top prospects going down to injury for a year or more at a time. Not only could it leave the White Sox without an important pitcher for more than a year, but there is no guarantee that a pitcher returning from Tommy John surgery or a similar injury will be the same pitcher he was before the injury.

The Mets, coming off a World Series appearance, appeared to be primed to have a similarly great season in 2016. Instead, they saw every single one of their pitchers (minus Bartolo Colon) fall to injury at some point during the season. The injury to Harvey was the most severe, but the injuries to Steven Matz and Noah Syndergaard hurt the team’s record and brought about concerns for the future. The Mets staff was built for success and filled with incredible arms. And yet, they quickly saw it fall to pieces.

Indeed, the Mets currently boast the best example of how Tommy John surgery is not a guarantee once the requisite recovery time is completed.  Zack Wheeler has now missed two full seasons and what he will look like when–or if–he ever returns is very much in question.

A glimmer of hope does remain, however. The White Sox greatest success in the past five seasons has been drafting and developing pitchers while also keeping them relatively healthy. Through the 2016 season, the White Sox two best pitchers were Jose Quintana and Chris Sale. Neither has experienced a serious, arm-related injury since moving into the White Sox’ rotation.

Have the White Sox found the magical solution to pitcher injuries? Absolutely not. They’ve still seen Nate Jones and Zach Putnam, among others, go down to severe arm injuries. What it does mean is that the White Sox have either gotten extremely lucky or found a way to, at the very least, combat and slow down the process and possibility of pitcher injuries. If the former is true, they might be due for some bad luck. If the latter is true, the White Sox have slightly less to worry about. Regardless, the Reyes injury was a bleak reminder of the reality of building a future around young arms. As a White Sox fan, that’s a troubling wrinkle in the process of the rebuild.

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