Logan Gilbert already has Mariners fans panicking before his return off the IL

Logan Gilbert is in theory on the verge of returning to action for the Seattle Mariners, and yet there is cause for concern about how effective he will be.
Washington Nationals v Seattle Mariners
Washington Nationals v Seattle Mariners | Olivia Vanni/GettyImages

Even allowing for the reality that it was always going to be difficult to match last season's efficiency, the Seattle Mariners' rotation has still been a shadow of its former self so far in 2025. Following Thursday's MLB action, they rank 15th in ERA, 16th in strikeout-to-walk ratio,18th in WHIP, and tied-22nd in opposing team batting average.

In fairness to the Mariners, it doesn't help when you've missed important parts of last year's best rotation due to injury, including George Kirby and Bryce Miller. Which brings us to the team's staff ace, Logan Gilbert.

Last season was a career year for Gilbert, which included his first ever All-Star selection and ended with him leading the Majors in both innings pitched and WHIP, and yet he had begun 2025 pitching even more effectively. As such, it was a shame for everyone concerned when he suffered a right elbow flexor strain in his sixth start of the campaign and headed to the Injured List for the first time since arriving in the majors.

One notable concern surrounding Logan Gilbert

Now, we're at the point where the 2018 14th overall draft pick is on the verge of returning, and yet there's some concern about if he will be his usual self when he's back on the mound with the Mariners. As per Adam Jude of The Seattle Times, this concern mostly centers around his velocity.

More specifically, a dip in Gilbert's velocity during his second rehab start on Wednesday evening in Tacoma. After touching 96.8 mph with his four-seam fastball in the first inning, he saw this fall significantly to 93.7 mph on the final two fastballs of his outing, which ended in the fourth with no outs.

The righty threw 60 pitches in his second rehab start, in the process allowing two runs on five hits, along with one walk and two strikeouts. However, all anyone could wonder is if the declining velocity on his fastball was a case of conserving himself, or a sign that he still isn't 100 percent?

Not helping the situation is that, as per FanGraphs, there was also a notable dip in Gilbert's velocity even before he went on the Injured List back on April 26. Yet he doesn't seem particularly concerned by this, as he conveyed when speaking to MLB.com's Daniel Kramer and the rest of the media on Thursday morning.

Mariners staff ace downplays any issues

The 28-year-old actually sounded surprised when the dip in his fastball velocity was pointed out to him, as he downplayed potentially experiencing any fatigue as his second rehab outing progressed. He did offer the theory that he usually throws weighted balls in the dugout tunnel between innings, but wasn't able to at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma due to the setup.

In any event, Gilbert was happy with how Wednesday's outing went overall, which importantly included not experiencing any arm tightness. He now waits to find out if his next start will be back in the majors, or if he needs one more rehab outing. As he said: "Still waiting to hear. We'll see. But I mean, my arm felt good yesterday and I'm not too sore today, so that's probably the main stuff."

Whenever the Winter Park, Florida native does return to the Mariners, one other thing to keep an eye on is how much he uses his splitter. As per Tim Booth of The Seattle Times, it's a pitch which puts extra stress on the throwing arm, and Gilbert admitted he might utilize it less, at least when he first returns to Seattle.

The shame with this is that it's Gilbert's best weapon, and yet you can understand his caution. As he said: "It’s a balance. I don’t want to get away from it and then just throw it in game to batters. But I also don’t want to overdo it, so it’s probably like a workload thing throughout the week. But again, it’s tricky, because you need to be careful with that pitch, probably, but it’s not like the one pitch I felt stressed with compared to other pitches."

Gilbert is making the trip to Anaheim with the Mariners, for a three-game road trip which begins on Friday evening versus the Angels. He will remain on a six-day routine for now, which will potentially see him return to action for the M's next Tuesday against the Diamondbacks in Arizona.

Recent Posts