“All-Dipoto Acquisition Team” Mariners edition: Starting Pitching

Logan Gilbert

Acquired via 2018 Draft, 14th overall pick

Yeah, there were quite a few options to consider here. Obviously, guys like Justus Sheffield and Justin Dunn were discussed. However, thanks to his proximity to the big leagues and our belief that he is a big-league quality starter right now, we gave the edge to the upside of Logan Gilbert and put him on the list before he has pitched in an MLB game.

I don’t know if this pick qualifies as “controversial” but Gilbert is already a #3 or #4 starter right now with the potential to max out as a good #1 starter, if not an ace. There isn’t a pitcher acquired by Dipoto who has a higher upside and because we are trying to build an actual team, not just list the 26 best players acquired by Dipoto, we decided some upside in the rotation to counteract the relative safety in spots 1-4 is justified.

Gilbert can win AL Rookie of the Year and, depending on how he holds up as a rookie, could, in theory, be our best starting pitcher right now. He certainly has the best stuff.

We mentioned some of the other candidates for the rotation and many of them will likely be on this same list if we could fast-forward 3 years ahead. Dipoto has put in a ton of effort into building one of the more impressive stockpiles of young arms in the game and fans are hoping that pays off in the near future.

But that is our rotation. Let us know who we missed. Remember, we are building a whole team so this rotation was made to compliment the rest of the team we built. You’ll see what we mean if you stick around for the next part of our series, the bullpen.