Mariners top pitching prospect Logan Gilbert getting settled for a summer in Tacoma
Mariners top pitching prospect Logan Gilbert is ready for two more months of baseball — even if not in the traditional sense.
Along with other young players in Seattle’s player pool, he arrived at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma earlier this week to his continue his development, and will train with teammates there until late September.
“It’s been great so far,” he said on a video call with reporters from the stadium Thursday. “We’re getting settled in here in Tacoma. First time here obviously, so it’s nice to get used to the park.”
If the baseball season had not been delayed and shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the minor league season not been canceled, Gilbert would have likely made a short stop in Tacoma to pitch against some Triple-A hitters on his way up to Seattle.
Had the season gone as planned, by this point in the summer, there’s a good chance he would have been slotted into the Mariners’ rotation. While the current situation is less ideal, Gilbert still sees the value in what he can accomplish this summer.
“I’m happy we still get something,” Gilbert said. “A couple months ago we didn’t know what we were going to be doing, so just to be up on the mound getting innings in, it’s still really beneficial.”
Gilbert pitched against big league hitters for three weeks inside T-Mobile Park at summer camp, got a sense of what his major league debut could be like before making it, and will continue to face some of the organization’s top prospects in Tacoma.
He won’t have quite enough time to fit in the 135 innings he pitched last season in three stops at Low-A West Virginia, High-A Modesto and Double-A Arkansas — he went a combined 10-5 with a 2.13 ERA and 165 strikeouts to 33 walks in 26 starts — but the Mariners still believe he can comfortably build into 60-70 innings area by the end of the summer.
“We still get our work in and do everything we can do here,” Gilbert said. “We still have a lot of good opportunities even if it’s not what we thought it might be during a regular season.
“Just to be able to go out there every day and try to get a little better, I think that’s the main part.”
While there aren’t enough players in Tacoma to field full sides for each intrasquad game, and pitchers will continue to face the same pool of 10-15 batters throughout the summer, Gilbert believes the differences could present opportunities for growth a normal season doesn’t necessarily provide.
“Facing the same hitters over and over, I think that is more challenging in itself,” he said. “Maybe that’s a good thing for us, because we have to find new ways to get guys out.”
And, without statistics attached to each outing, pitchers will also get the chance to get a better feel for secondary pitches they may not have had as much time to work with during the course of a normal season.
For Gilbert, one of his main focuses this summer is incorporating his changeup more, he said.
“I’ve been playing around with it, and I really like the feel I have right now for it,” he said. “This is a great time to just force it, to keep throwing it over and over.”
With a similar script for each day at Cheney Stadium — team workouts balanced out by three or four intrasquad games per week — Gilbert is also glad to have the opportunity to build relationships with players he could soon play alongside in Seattle.
He played with top prospect Jarred Kelenic and top catching prospect Cal Raleigh last year in Arkansas, but prospects like Noelvi Marte are also training in Tacoma, as are players with big league experience like outfielders Braden Bishop and Jake Fraley.
“Top to bottom, the whole organization, we get to really build those relationships now, just like in Arkansas last year, and then continue on to hopefully the big leagues and have those relationships built with those guys,” Gilbert said.
He got the opportunity to play with and pitch against most of the organization’s already established major leaguers and its up-and-comers during summer camp, and said his biggest takeaway from summer camp at T-Mobile Park was feeling a sense of belonging. That’s something he can carry with him moving forward.
“I think it did build my confidence a little bit just knowing that I feel like I can pitch with anybody,” he said. “Obviously there’s some really good players and we can go back and forth, but at the end of the day I feel like my stuff can still play, and I’m really confident in it after pitching up there in Seattle.”
This story was originally published August 1, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
