2022 New Years Resolutions for the Seattle Mariners

#4 Logan Gilbert – Develop off-speed pitches

Logan Gilbert had a great rookie season last year. Was he the best rookie pitcher ever, no, but he was really solid. He came up in May and made every start for the rest of the season. He started 24 games and amassed 119.1 innings as a rookie. Those are big numbers, and he was fairly dependable every time out. He went only about 5 innings in most of his starts, but he showed in some starts front of the rotation potential.

Overall, Gilbert showed that his plus fastball was an above-average major league pitch. However, his off-speed pitches did not show the same potential. They were often inconsistent and he had to throw so many fastballs, it became a little too easy for hitters. Hitters would still struggle to barrel it up at times and fouled it off a lot, but he needs to have more offerings for hitters to worry about.

He threw his fastball over 60% of the time, but he needs to get more out of his slider, curveball, and changeup. Opponents hit below .100 on his curveball, but he only threw it 145 times last year. Opponents did not do well on his slider either, batting .211 against it in over 500 pitches. His changeup got knocked around a lot last year, so he should throw that pitch less than the others, but overall develop all of them more.

If Logan Gilbert can have more than one plus pitch, he will be a really good starting pitcher for the Mariners. His development of off-speed offerings will alter how the Seattle rotation will do in 2022. He could be the key to the Mariners season, meaning that how much he can grow next year will help take the Mariners to new heights.