Seattle Mariners Top Five Impact Rookies to Watch in 2020
Logan Gilbert, Seattle Mariners.
Up and comers
There are a pair of elephants in the room to get out of the way first.
Logan Gilbert – The Seattle Mariners 2017 first-round draft pick has a live arm. At three different levels last year, Gilbert had 165 strikeouts in 135.1 innings. He doesn’t do it with straight heat, either. His talent lies in the variety of pitches he can throw for strikes. Gilbert mixes them well and can work all parts of the zone to get hitters out.
A future staff ace, Gilbert has not pitched higher than Double-A ball. He may get an opportunity to start a game this year so the brass can get a look at him against Major League hitters. At this point, there are other pitchers in the organization ahead of him. He’s far too inexperienced to count on at the Major league level.
Jarred Kelenic – When he finally arrives as a full-time MLB player, Kelenic will be lots of fun to watch. He possesses all the tools needed to be a superstar. Unfortunately, the 20-year-old phenom isn’t there yet. But he is close.
Ideally, the Mariners’ top prospect would have begun the season at Double-A Arkansas before hopefully earning his way to Triple-A Tacoma, and possibly a September call up. Kelenic has played well at Summer Camp, almost forcing the Seattle Mariners’ hand to make him part of the opening day 30-man roster.
However, if he isn’t going to play regularly, Kelenic should get the attention he needs at the team’s alternate location than to ride the pine with the big league team. Expect him to get a “cup of coffee” with the M’s at the end of the year.
We’ll just leave this right here.
@JKelenic_1019 | #SummerCamp pic.twitter.com/kvyePHx7iE
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) July 14, 2020