Mariners Pitchers I’m Most Excited to Watch in 2022

After a mediocre big league debut in which he allowed 4 runs in 4IP against Cleveland, Logan Gilbert was not phased. Over the remainder of his rookie season, Gilbert continued to use his fastball just over 60% of the time, which is what you want to see from a young guy who’s 4SFB averages 95mph.

The outing that stood out to me the most from Gilbert this year was his start against the Yankees, where he cruised through 7 shut-out innings and struck out 8 batters. After a performance like that, it was fair to expect a bit of a come-back-to-earth type game during his next outing, given his rookie status and track record from his first few starts. Instead, the Mariners young stallion followed up that outing with a 9-strike out performance against the Angels in Anaheim.

While his 4.68 ERA is respectable but not jaw dropping, that number was inflated by three rocky starts in a row in the month of August against Toronto, Houston and Kansas City. What really excites me about this kid is his resilience. The fact that he bounced back after allowing 19 earned runs in those three games to only allow 10 earned runs total over his next six starts shows the mental toughness he has. That competitive demeanor is what makes me believe he could end up at the top of this rotation before too long.