Seattle Mariners: Big Maple is LEAFing M’s Rotation, the fallout
Logan Gilbert’s arrival
The expectation is that Gilbert will get the big league call this year. When that will be, is TBD to the public. Dipoto did share that the Gilbert plan is to work short innings, with the intention of building up for the end of the year. Maybe right in time for a playoff push?
If you believe Kevin Mather, the call-up will come most likely during the Houston or LA Dodgers series. So, that’s anywhere from April 16 and 20. During this time, the M’s will acquire another year of control over the big right-hander’s contract.
However, Gilbert may come up later. To date, Gilbert has only a total of 135 innings of professional baseball experience. Those were all in 2019. His highest level was 50 innings of Double-A. Due to the pandemic, the 2020 minor league season was canceled. So, he only threw at the alternate training site.
To this point, we don’t know how many innings Gilbert logged. The M’s have already shown that they have no intention of rushing him to the big leagues. Upon reaching those 135 innings in 2019, the M’s shut down Gilbert. They planned to bring him to the majors in 2020.
The pandemic altered Seattle’s plans. So, my educated guess is that somewhere between April 16 and May 31 is when Gilbert makes his long-awaited Mariners debut.
What do you think will happen with the Seattle Mariners pitching staff? Let us know in the comments section below or on social media.