Mariners' sign top draft pick Logan Gilbert. He says he brought his glove if they need him against Boston

Logan Gilbert arrived at SeaTac International Airport. He had a baseball glove in his hand.

“And he’s asking when his first bullpen is and when he’s going to start,” Mariners amateur scouting director Scott Hunter said.

It might be sooner than you’d think.

Gilbert stood along the Safeco Field concourse in his first trip to Seattle since the Mariners made him their first-round draft pick on June 3.

If blend-in was his thing, that didn’t go so well. The 6-foot-6, long-haired junior from Stetson University in Florida – the same school that has produced major-league aces Jacob deGrom and Corey Kluber – looked like he could have been plugged in to pitch that night’s game against the Boston Red Sox.

The Mariners officially announced they signed Gilbert on Saturday, with MLB Pipeline reporter Jim Callis reporting the deal was for the full No. 14 overall pick value of almost $3.9 million.

Gilbert said he was cautious not to bother any of the Mariners players too much. After all, this is a big series.

But he spent Friday night watching the Mariners rally from a three-run deficit among more than 44,000 at Safeco Field. He couldn’t help but visualize.

“I’m ready to get to work,” Gilbert said. “I saw the game last night and it made me want to be out there. I’m so excited to get to Everett and hopefully I get to throw a little bit and hopefully I’m available in the next few years.”

Everett as in the short-season Single-A Everett AquaSox, where he’ll head to on Sunday. But Hunter said they don’t expect him to throw too many innings.

“He’s been pretty much a workhorse at Stetson,” Hunter said. “So he’s pretty much at his innings limit.

“If he gets a few innings this summer that’s icing on the cake, but it’s not going to be a heavy workload whatsoever.”

Gilbert has already thrown 112 1/3 innings for Stetson this spring, with the team’s run ending in the NCAA Super Regional last weekend against North Carolina, one series win away from a trip to the College World Series. Gilbert tossed 5 1/3 innings, allowing four runs, six hits with six strikeouts in his final college outing.

He led all of NCAA Division I pitchers with 163 strikeouts.

This means the Mariners have officially announced the signings of nine of their top 10 draft picks, all except for Florida State catcher Cal Raleigh, their third-round selection.

They announced the signing of University of Georgia outfielder Keegan McGovern, their ninth-round pick, which means they’ve officially added 28 of their first 30 selections (still missing Raleigh and 28th-round pick Beau Branton, a second baseman from Stanford.

The Mariners’ past two first-round picks, outfielder Kyle Lewis and first baseman Evan White, are both with high Single-A Modesto, though White recently filled in for four games with Triple-A Tacoma.

Back to Gilbert.

The Mariners said they originally thought he might not be available past the top three picks until some dead-arm issues caused him to drop down many teams’ boards. But he rediscovered some of his velocity, once clocked at 97 mph on his fastball to go along with a slider and changeup.

Gilbert stood alongside Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto, manager Scott Servais and Hunter on Saturday watching the Mariners take batting practice.

Gilbert hasn’t run into many players over the years he can look eye-to-eye with. Consider that the Mariners’ “Big Maple,” James Paxton, is the tallest pitchers on their active roster and he’s listed at 6-foot-4. First baseman Ryon Healy is 6-5.

“It hits you when you are out there next to them and there are not a ton of people who I run into who are my size, I guess,” Gilbert said. “But about half the team down there was.”

Servais sat down with Gilbert and his parents, asking him some basic questions – what he feels he needs to work on, what’s he best at? Servais said he believe Gilbert’s timeline could realistically be two years before he’s pitching in the major leagues.

“They all think they are going to be here really quickly and in this case I think he certainly can be,” Servais said. “You take an advanced college pitcher like that and you hope it’s a pretty quick journey through the minor leagues and starting pitching is hard to find.

“I watched him a bit on TV in their super regional. Big guy, the delivery is very clean. But you got to stay healthy and that’s the biggest thing.”

He would have rather been in Omaha, Nebraska, pitching in the College World Series. But hanging out at Safeco Field didn’t seem like a terrible consolation prize.

“Omaha would have been pretty special,” Gilbert said. “But it’s not bad being here and meeting everybody and them taking me around and seeing the clubhouse and that kind of stuff. It was really special.”

Especially when he thought back to the hours of baseball practices, games and showcases that have consumed his days leading up to this. He said he wasn’t sure what he’d buy with his first paycheck, but it all hit him most signing the papers to officially join the Seattle Mariners.

Hunter said many players he’s scouted have batting cages at their house. Gilbert is the first to have a mound in his backyard.

“It’s hard to put it all into words because so many years have led up to this and all the sacrifice and time commitments from driving me to practice when I was a little kid all the way up until now being here at Safeco Field – it’s pretty special to look back and see everything that’s led up to this point.”

Injury updates

Juan Nicasio threw against live batting practice before the Mariners’ Saturday game against the Red Sox and Servais said the right-handed reliever looked good enough to project he’ll be activated off of the disabled list in New York early next week against the Yankees.

Nicasio is recovering from some swelling in his knee. The Mariners are off Monday before beginning a three-game series against the Yankees on Tuesday.

“He’s healthy,” Servais said. “The ball is coming out of his hand fine.”

Right-hander Nick Vincent threw a bullpen session later in the day in his recovery from a strained groin. He’ll need a rehab assignment, Servais said, before returning to the Mariners. Though he said he hopes he could be ready to be activated by the time the Mariners head to Boston for a three-game series starting on Friday.

On tap

The Mariners complete their seven-game home stand with their fourth game against the Red Sox. Right-hander Mike Leake (7-3, 4.26 ERA) gets the start for the Mariners in the 1:10 p.m. Sunday game at Safeco Field, opposed by left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (7-1, 3.68 ERA).

The game will televise on Root Sports and broadcast on 710-AM radio.

TJ Cotterill: 253-597-8677

Twitter: @TJCotterill

This story was originally published June 16, 2018 at 2:49 PM with the headline "Mariners' sign top draft pick Logan Gilbert. He says he brought his glove if they need him against Boston."