Cal Raleigh's record-breaking day obscured an even bigger story for the Mariners

There's no denying that what Cal Raleigh achieved on Sunday was truly special, as he hit two bombs to became the all-time leader for home runs by a catcher in a season with 49 (and counting). However, we also want to show some love for the other big story on the day for the Seattle Mariners, involving Logan Gilbert.

Gilbert was coming off his worst performance of the season in a 12-7 road loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, in which he allowed nine hits and six earned runs in just 2.0 innings. It left plenty of people worried about the righty, but what we should have focused on was his mental fortitude and ability to bounce back from bad outings.

And bounce back the 2024 All-Star did on Sunday, with his best performance of the season in the 11-4 win versus the Athletics. At least that's our takeaway from an outing which saw him set new personal bests with 13 strikeouts and 25 whiffs.

Pretty much everything about Gilbert's outing was tremendous, whether it was averaging 96.1 mph on his fastball — his third-highest average this season — or also leaning heavily on his slider and splitter, with the splitter specifically producing seven of his final nine strikeouts. All of this was helped by continually getting ahead of hitters, with first-pitch strikes on 18 of the 22 batters he faced on Sunday.

When it was all said and done, the 28-year-old had 65 strikes on his 93 total pitches over 6.0 innings. He was clearly a man on a mission following his disastrous outing in Philadelphia, as he allowed just three hits, a walk and one earned run in total against the Athletics.

What version of Logan Gilbert can the Mariners expect in future?

Certainly, the performance on Sunday served as a nice reminder that Gilbert can still pitch like the staff ace that he was last season for the Mariners and prior to his right elbow flexor strain in late April. The question is whether or not he can deliver this type of performance more regularly moving forward?

The Winter Park, Florida native actually provided some insight into his thoughts as to how this season has gone so far for him, when speaking to the media postgame. He said: "I haven't really felt like I've completely clicked at any point in the season. So it's like it's been fine, but I have really high standards so I've been frustrated throughout the year."

Well, allowing for the understandable self-imposed high standards it might actually be more attainable than some might think at first, because the reality is that Gilbert hasn't been that bad when it comes to his overall productivity. He's projected to have the lowest FIP (3.14) and highest strikeout rate (34.7 percent) of his five years in the majors, along with his second-lowest WHIP (1.034).

Further encouragement comes from perusing Gilbert's Baseball Savant page. Highlights include ranking in the 100th percentile for extension, 98th percentile for K% and 94th percentile for Whiff%.

Where Logan Gilbert needs to improve specifically for the M's

Of course we do appreciate the saying about perception being reality, along with statistics often being able to be manipulated to support any argument. Another way of putting it is to just be objective and look at the other side of the tale.

With Gilbert, this means noting he only ranks in the 9th percentile for Average Exit Velo and the 20th percentile for Hard-Hit% . Another thing which is striking (no pun intended) is the disparity between his ERA at home compared to away, with a excellent 2.15 ERA at T-Mobile Park and an unsightly 6.00 ERA on his travels.

Moving forward, it's more a case of the 2018 14th overall draft pick needing to find more consistency on the road in particular. At least we know this is possible, given he has a good track record away from Seattle with a 3.94 ERA in 17 starts last year and even better before then, with a 3.40 ERA in 17 outings in 2023 and a 3.16 ERA in 18 appearances during 2022.

Overall, there's more positives than negative when it comes to Gilbert and what he's done this season for the Mariners. However, key to him returning to staff ace status and just helping the team make the playoffs full stop, is performing better on the road.