Drayer: Logan Gilbert’s assist to Mariners teammate with big talent

Mar 20, 2025, 1:15 PM | Updated: 2:04 pm

Mariners Insider, Seattle Sports

After the bulk of Seattle Mariners players remaining in spring training camp had left the Peoria Sports Complex for a game Sunday in Goodyear, Ariz., a group of pitchers – both starters and relievers – got their daily work in the bullpen area outside the back door of the complex.

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It is an often changing and always interesting sight as that work has differed individual to individual throughout the years. Bullpens are thrown and other work is done in the adjacent “plyo” area.

Among those getting work in that afternoon was reliever Shintaro Fujinami, who was throwing from a bullpen mound to a bullpen catcher, and All-Star starter Logan Gilbert, who was also throwing from a mound but in a non-conventional way. While Fujinami’s delivery looked like what you would see in a game, Gilbert’s delivery was anything but familiar as he was doing different things with his balance, stride, arm angles, timing and more.

When both finished their work, Gilbert and Fujinami could be seen along with their catchers in a long conservation in the middle of the bullpen area.

With the intrigue around Fujinami, a 6-foot-6 right-hander who has tremendous stuff and velocity but has been hindered by injury and command issues since coming to the US, and with Gilbert’s curiosity in the craft of pitching, one had to wonder what they were discussing. Who approached who? And what did they want to know, or was advice being dispensed?

The next day, Gilbert shared a bit about what took place in the bullpen.

“It started with me messing around on the mound,” Gilbert said. “He just wanted to know what I was doing. We were just kind of joking around and then it kind of turned into me just telling him different stuff that has helped me throughout the years.”

“A lot of stuff in there”

Sunday wasn’t the first time Gilbert and Fujinami had spoken. Early on in camp, Gilbert approached Fujinami and asked him about his splitter grip. This time, he saw an opportunity to perhaps help a future teammate.

“We were talking about external targets and kind of the thought process on the mound,” Gilbert said, “and I recommended (the book) ‘The Inner Game of Tennis’ because it helped me so much. We were trying to figure out if there was a Japanese version.”

Mariners pitching coach Pete Woodworth was in Goodyear with the team when the conversation in the bullpen took place, but he smiled as the story was relayed to him. It reflected the growth of Gilbert, now the Mariners’ scheduled opening day starter, being proactive in helping another player. The message given was actually a message being reinforced, with external targeting being a focus of Woodworth’s and the coaching staff to try to unlock a player they see possessing big talent.

“There’s a lot of stuff in there,” Woodworth said of Fujinami. “There’s a lot of weapons and tools. Big weapons.”

Those who have watched Fujinami from behind the catcher throwing a bullpen in camp have wondered aloud how a hitter ever reaches base. The stuff appears that good, but it has somehow not translated from the bullpens to games with Fujinami walking 45 batters and hitting another seven in the 79 innings he has pitched in MLB.

The problem, the Mariners believe, is Fujinami being too fine or “internal” in his work. They would like to see him trust the talent, know that the weapons are there, and in the simplest sense let the body take over. They have emphasized he doesn’t need to perfect the mechanics. There is another way to be more effective in games, which is something that Gilbert learned in his own pitching journey.

“Logan does more work on his delivery, but he does it off the mound,” Woodworth explained. “When he steps on the mound, he is not thinking about (mechanics), and he’s come to the realization over the last couple of years it doesn’t have to be this perfect movement off the mound for him to be confident. And that’s kind of new and different thinking than the past where it was always repeat your delivery and everything was about the mechanics.”

This is where perhaps Gilbert can be a perfect example for Fujinami, not just in his experience but a key area where they are both similar. They are both 6-6, and deliveries for tall, lanky players can be difficult to repeat no matter how much work and how many throws you make in a bullpen. Gilbert and others have found training the body and muscle groups to react have proved more effective for them. It’s why Gilbert’s work in the bullpen looked different.

“I was just like playing catch with ‘Champ’ (bullpen catcher Justin Novak), but we do a bunch of different random throws,” Gilbert explained. “I purposely do stuff different ways to kind of prove to myself that my body can self-organize and figure it out, and then focus more on the target than trying to do the same exact thing because we can almost get too caught up in that on the rubber.”

Gilbert isn’t the only pitcher doing this. Making different throws from different angles is part of the flatground warmup the Mariners do as a group each day. We have seen it pay off in different ways, from Emerson Hancock making an incredible across-the-body throw fielding an in-between slow roller on the left side of the infield in a game, to players adding pitches during the season, to Bryan Woo not being concerned if his arm angle is a bit off in a start because his body can adapt. It’s the reason you rarely if ever hear the word “mechanics” from a Mariners pitcher or coach.

All of this is new to Fujinami, and if Gilbert can give an assist with a talk and a recommendation of a book that has helped many, well, that’s a big plus for everyone.

“I wouldn’t be surprised 2-3 years ago if Logan asked him how he holds his split (and that) would have been end of the conversation,” Woodworth said. “Now to see him taking some things that has really helped him mentally, especially that book, to try and pass on that knowledge to others, just to share that like ‘Hey, when I was struggling this book really helped me, maybe it can help you,’ again just speaks to the character of the human being in Logan.”