Mariners Logan Gilbert is ‘not fair’ after adding another wipeout offspeed pitch originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The Seattle Mariners have a lot of great starting pitching options, with Bryan Woo, Luis Castillo, Emerson Hancock, George Kirby, and ace Logan Gilbert.
The Mariners righty has a 6.75 ERA in two starts this year, giving up five runs to the New York Yankees in 5.1 innings, and three to the Cleveland Guardians in 5.1 innings.
But, as MLB.com’s David Adler noted, Gilbert has a secret weapon that should make the righty pitcher “not fair” to opposing hitters. That secret weapon? A new changeup that will feature as another wipeout offspeed pitch to fool hitters.
“Gilbert was filthy enough when he was just throwing a splitter. Now the Mariners ace is throwing a changeup on top of that splitter? That’s not fair,” Adler writes.
His splitter is a great out pitch, and while he could’ve just survived with that pitch, having more weapons in the arsenal should make Gilbert an even better pitcher.
While it’s yet to translate to on-field production for the Mariners this season, the righty starter has the tools to be one of the best pitchers in the sport if he can use this new changeup to put away hitters all year alongside his prior pitch mix.
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“The new changeup is averaging just under 85 mph with 16 inches of horizontal movement,” Adler writes.
That movement is solid for Gilbert, and with the splitter that has some filthy drop, adding a pitch in this changeup with more horizontal movement will make him a lot trickier to face off against.
It’s still a work in progress, and Gilbert has yet to put it all together in one start. But if he can get every pitch working and add this changeup to the mix, then the Mariners’ 28-year-old All-Star could get even nastier this season.
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