Seattle Mariners: Can Logan Gilbert be the M’s Ace?

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Jan 7, 2022
Seattle Mariners
Logan Gilbert, Seattle Mariners.

Plus Heater

In 2021 Gilbert relied heavily on his 4-seem fastball, which he threw 61.5 percent of the time. This is Majors, and big-league hitters can handle fastballs. To become elite, Gilbert needs a better secondary pitch or two. His slider and changeup are serviceable, with the latter needing more work than the former.

All that means is Gilbert needs to develop his arsenal a little further, and the Seattle Mariners have to give him the room to do so. Remember, this was his rookie season, and it followed a truncated 2020 in which he didn’t get much work in against “live” batters. He also missed time in 2018 as well. So he hasn’t had the typical time frame to build up strength and variety.

Looking ahead

Moving forward, if Gilbert stays healthy and makes more than 24 starts, the M’s can pencil him in for improvements. He’ll certainly have more quality starts, strikeouts, and wins. 

As for actual improvements as a pitcher, he has the physical tools to throw strikes but needs to learn the art of pitching to Major League hitters. To do that, Gilbert must develop those secondary pitches. That should come with time as he matures and figures out when and where to mix in sliders and changeups with his heater.
He’ll learn how to better set up batters. Once Gilbert takes that step, It wouldn’t be surprising to see his K/9 ratio go from 9.7 to 11+

To begin the 2022 season, Gilbert will slot in behind Robbie Ray, Marco Gonzales, and Chris Flexen as the M’s fourth starter. But by the end of the season, he will pitch like a quality #2 starter, outclassing other teams 3’s and 4’s.

Next: Page 3 – Answering the question

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