Mariners’ Logan Gilbert takes us inside his return from the IL

For the first four seasons of his MLB career, Seattle Mariners All-Star pitcher Logan Gilbert was as reliable as they come.

Watch: Luke Raley sure looks ready for his Mariners return

Every five to seven days, Gilbert was ready to take the ball. That meant he started 24 times as a rookie after making his big league debut in May 2021, 32 times in each of the 2022 and 2023 seasons, and then tied for the MLB lead with 33 starts in 2024.

But this season, Gilbert found himself on the injured list for the first time, recovering from a right flexor bundle strain that sidelined him in the middle of an April 25 outing.

The 28-year-old Gilbert learned what life as a rehabbing pitcher is like, and it appears he handled it well. He made his return to the Mariners on Monday, striking out 10 Boston Red Sox batters over five innings of three-hit, two-run ball with just one walk issued along the way.

A few days later, Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob caught up with Gilbert in the Mariners clubhouse to dig into his last couple months.

“It was pretty hard,” Gilbert said of working back from an in-season injury. “It’s not something I wish on anybody. Even six or seven weeks compared to a year isn’t a crazy amount of time, but it was really hard just sitting there feeling like you’re not really helping the team a ton – on the mound, at least. So it’s nice to be past it.”

Before being activated by the M’s, Gilbert made three appearances on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Tacoma. He provided some interesting insights on his approach to those games, where the organization’s priority is more about getting him ready to return to the Mariners than the Rainiers’ results.

“It’s a little bit of both where I’m kind of focused on what I want to, and then (catcher Harry Ford and pitching coach Jairo Cuevas) in Triple-A did a good job of letting me know about the hitters, the team, all that kind of stuff,” Gilbert said. “So there’s definitely stuff I was trying to hammer home before getting back here.”

Gilbert, who made all of one career start at Triple-A before he was called up by the Mariners in 2021, added something that he learned about playing in the Pacific Coast League, which is known for being particularly heavy on offense.

“I will say it’s interesting that the Triple-A (strike) zone seems pretty tight, and the hitters are actually really good at (knowing the zone),” he said. “I think they’ve gotten used to the zone, they know it really well. So I didn’t have a ton of guys chasing the ball a lot, especially the breaking pitches down, so I might have overcorrected a little bit.

“And it’s not a big issue at all, but (I was) almost trying to throw the ball in the zone all the time because they just weren’t chasing the ball. So I had to almost recommit to, you know, people will swing if you throw a good slider under the zone, or whatever it is. So not ever giving in.”

While his walks per nine innings (3.7) and strikeouts-to-walk ratio (2.75) numbers weren’t nearly as good with the Rainiers as they usually are in the big leagues, Gilbert seemed pretty close to his usual self when he was on the mound Monday back at T-Mobile Park. And he says it felt that way, too.

“I feel pretty good about it. Kind of taking steps in the right direction,” Gilbert said. “I feel like all the pitches, what they’re doing, is pretty much where I want it to be. The splitter felt good and got a decent amount of swing and miss, so that’s always good.

“Want to continue to try to be efficient, get ahead of guys. That’s always stuff to work on and can always be better about that. And just a couple mistakes leaving sliders up, so that’s something I’ll just keep hammering. Get get the ball down, good things happen.”

Hear the full Wyman and Bob conversation with Seattle Mariners pitcher Logan Gilbert in the podcast at this link or in the audio player near the top of this post, or watch the video at this link. Catch Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob live from 2-7 p.m. weekdays.

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