Nightengale's Notebook: How Mariners' Logan Gilbert went from an undrafted high schooler to MLB ace
HOUSTON — It was the spring of 2016 when Stetson University pitching coach Dave Therneau instructed his pitchers to jot down a few paragraphs, describing their goals and asking what they want out of baseball.
Logan Gilbert, undrafted out of high school, and not recruited by a single major Division 1 program, diligently filled it out.
Therneau read it in disbelief, and had to restrain himself from laughing.
“I want to be a first-round draft pick.’’
“I couldn’t believe it, he was the rawest of raw,’’ Therneau said. “I would never say this to him, but he really didn’t have it. He had nothing but an average fastball. No secondary pitches. The arm wasn’t good. He was kind of scrawny. Nothing.
Well, it turns out that Gilbert might have severely underestimated himself.
“I guess you could say,’’ Gilbert told USA TODAY Sports, “things kind of clicked for me.’’
Gilbert not only became the highest draft pick in Stetson history as a first-round pick – ahead of even Cy Young alumni Jacob deGrom and Corey Kluber, 14th overall by the Seattle Mariners – but four years after missing his first professional season because of mononucleosis, and two years after COVID-19 cost him a minor-league season, he has become one of the finest young pitchers in the American League.
Gilbert, 25, has emerged as the most dependable starter on the Mariners staff, going 6-2 with a 2.41 ERA in his first 12 starts. He has been with five consecutive quality starts and has given up more than three earned runs just once this season.
Gilbert just beat the first-place Houston Astros twice in two weeks, with the Mariners finally starting to play up to expectations. They won nine of their last 14 games and were 3½ games out in the wild-card race entering Sunday. Certainly, they are a different team when Gilbert starts, going 8-4 in his 12 starts compared to 19-28 with anyone else.
The baseball world may be unfamiliar with Gilbert, hidden in the shadows playing alongside heralded outfielder Jarred Kelenic at every minor-league stop, and even called up to the big leagues on the same day, but he soon could be introduced on the national stage at the All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium.
“We’ve all been talking about Logan down here,’’ says Stetson head coach Steve Trimper. “Logan is a local hero. There’s not a day that doesn’t go by that this entire town, this entire university, all of the alumni, don’t check out what’s going on with Logan Gilbert.
“I’ve coached maybe 900 kids over 29 years, but he’s the most genuine, down-to-earth, fierce competitor that has no ego I’ve ever been around. He’s just the most wonderful human being you’ll ever meet. This is a guy who has done everything right in his life, off the field, in the classroom, and a person.’’
Who else would actually stick around after the Stetson games and help pick up the discarded cups in the dugout?
Who would send in a video to welcome in Stetson’s new president after he was inaugurated?
Gilbert, engaged with the wedding date set in November, spends time in the offseason by driving 45 minutes to Stetson, located in DeLand, Fla., checking up on the baseball team, lend a helping hand, offer pitching tips, and, yes, even to pick up balls at practice.
“He’s always helping out and giving back to the program,’’ Trimper says. “I saw him no less than 15 times in the offseason. He’s just a special, special dude.
“And as good as he’s pitching now, you haven’t seen the best of Logan, not with his work ethic. How many lightly recruited players are there in college baseball who three years later became a first-round pick, and two years later he’s one of the best pitchers in baseball?
“That doesn’t happen by accident.’’
Gilbert, 6-foot-6, 215 pounds, won’t dazzle you with a particular pitch, throwing a 96-mph fastball, along with an 87-mph slider, curveball and changeup, but he keeps hitters off-balance with his funky delivery and long stride, appearing almost as if he’s falling off the mound after each pitch.
He’s a self-proclaimed pitching nerd who studies his peers, a fierce competitor, with a meticulous workout routine that has his teammates fatigued just watching him. He may be big, but he’s so athletic that he still can do the splits.
“I’m very routine-oriented,’’ he said, “down to the last minute. I’m always trying to cook up something. I do some weird stuff.’’
He started throwing a water ball in the off-season, a seven-pound kickball filled with water to improve his arm strength. He worked on his off-speed pitches, developing his slider, and drastically improving his curveball. He studied deGrom in his bullpen sessions at Stetson, watched video of everyone from Astros Cy Young winner Justin Verlander to Rays flame-thrower Tyler Glasnow, and constantly worked on different grips.
“I talked to [deGrom] a couple of times, and he gave me a couple of little things here and there to try,’’ Gilbert said. “Mostly, I just try to watch and learn as much as possible, and try to be good as I can be.
“I worked hard to put myself in this position.’’
He went from an undrafted, unrecruited kid into the pitcher of the year in the Atlantic Sun Conference his sophomore and junior years. He went 11-2 with a 2.72 ERA his junior year, striking out 163 batters while walking just 25 batters, and leading Stetson to its first Super Regional tournament.
“My job was to give him some tools, what he needed to develop,’’ Therneau said, “and, man, did he develop. He went from a thrower who had only a fastball to a pitcher with great secondary pitches.
“What an unbelievable work ethic. He was relentless trying to get better. He did everything at 100%. He never took a day off. He’s the one who deserves all of the credit.’’
Now, here he is, watching movies to relax during the day he pitches, stopping at Chipotle for a steak-and-chicken burrito for lunch, and dominating big-league hitters at night. He is yielding a .211 batting average, eighth-lowest in the American League, with 70 strikeouts and 22 walks.
“His continued growth, the confidence he has when he takes the mound,’’ Mariners manager Scott Servais said last week, “is as high as anybody’s in the league right now, and it should be.
“He’s got great stuff, he’s got a great idea of what he’s doing out there, and he is super aggressive and on the attack. I love watching him pitch.”
He’s not going to dazzle you with an array of 102-mph fastballs. He’s not going to have hitters buckling at the knees with his curveball. He’s not going to leave hitters screaming out of frustration.
“Everybody in today’s game wants to see big velo,’’ Trimper said, “but he has unbelievable fastball command. He pitches up in the zone better than anybody I ever coached. His release point was so far out in front that the optics looks like he’s throwing a rise ball. It’s really hard for hitters to catch up to it when they’re up in the zone like that.’’
Gilbert, the AL Pitcher of the Month in April with a franchise-record low 0.40 ERA, vows to be a workhorse, and not just a dominant pitcher. He wants to throw 200 innings year after year. He wants to make at least 30 starts a year. Durability separates the greats from everyone else.
“Guys who do that get overlooked nowadays,’’ Gilbert said, “but it would mean a lot to me. To be the guy that can do it consistently, you’re helping out your team and you’re saving the bullpen. Even just going deep into games, taking on the load yourself that can save an inning here or there from the bullpen, it makes a big difference.
“I want to be that guy. I never want to feel complacent. I’ll never say, 'Oh, I got it now,’ or that type of things.
“What I’m doing now helps build confidence, but I’m nowhere close to being where I want to be.’’
Who knows, maybe it’s time for an updated letter to articulate his new goals now that he’s having success in the big leagues?
“I’ve still got the old one, I’ll be keeping that forever,’’ Therneau said. “What he has done is unbelievable. He’s a role model for what can happen with hard work and dedication.
“I can’t give him enough praise, but I’ll tell him, 'Hey, I remember you when you weren’t any good.'"
NL MVP thriving in the role he hated
Bryce Harper will be honest with you.
He hated the DH.
He wanted no part of it in the National League.
And when MLB decided to have a universal DH beginning this season, and likely forever, Harper was miffed.
These days, well, the DH position not only has kept Harper in the starting lineup rather the injured list all summer with a torn ulnar collateral ligament, but it might be saving the Phillies’ season.
The Phillies have won nine consecutive games entering Sunday, eight since firing manager Joe Girardi and replacing him with Rob Thomson. And the man in the middle of it all is Harper, who hit five homers in his first eight games of June.
Harper, who won the National League MVP last season, is having perhaps a better season this year as the Phillies’ DH, hitting .322 with 15 homers, 19 doubles and 45 RBI, along with a .378 on-base percentage, and NL-leading .639 slugging percentage. His 181-plus OPS is exactly what he finished with a year ago.
In the past calendar year, Harper has a slash line of .319/.415/.656 with 42 homers, 114 RBI, 115 runs and a 7.5 WAR, the highest in baseball. He is hitting .391 with 12 doubles, 11 homers and 30 RBI since May 5.
“Everyone knew I was against the DH,’’ Harper told USA TODAY Sports. “I was outspoken about it. I just loved the NL style of game.
“But now, I’m so grateful to have it. I wouldn’t be playing. I’d have to sit there and watch this team. I couldn’t be happier being a DH every day and helping this team on any given night.’’
Harper still hopes to return to right field before the end of the season, but in the meantime, will do everything he can to keep the Phillies in contention. They finally are living up to expectations, outscoring the opposition, 60-24 during their streak, with 19 homers and a .591 slugging percentage under Thomson. The last time they opened the month of June with eight consecutive victories was 1978.
“I think the team that we have was always in there,’’ Harper said, “it was just a matter of putting it together, and we have this last week. We’re pitching, we’re hitting, we’re playing defense. Now, we got to keep it going. We can’t lay down and think, “This is it, we got it now.’ We’ve got to keep playing our game.
“There’s no better feeling than to win in a city like Philadelphia where the fans expect us to win, the city expects it, and we expect it. It’s electric.’’
Harper, one of the game’s biggest marketing stars, is playing his own game off the field, too, as a spokesman for Dairy Queen. He’s in a contest with Tim Anderson of the Chicago White Sox where fans will vote on whether their favorite “Official Combo Meal of MLB’’ – Harper’s or Anderson’s.
“Growing up, getting Blizzards and Dilly Bars, that was a staple for us,’’ Harper said. “It was a treat for us after every game we played. Win or lose, you got a treat.’’
Well, the way these Phillies are playing these days, they could be getting much more than ice cream treats. They are trying to earn their first postseason berth since their glorious run ended in 2011, with Thomson vying to be the first interim manager hired before the All-Star break to lead his team into the playoffs since Jim Tracy with the 2009 Colorado Rockies.
Who knows, if the Phillies are in the playoffs, it may entice owner John Middleton to reach into his checkbook again. He has spent $742 million on five free agents the past four years, and one upcoming free agent sure would look good in a Phillies uniform, and happens to be Harper’s former teammate with the Washington Nationals.
Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Trea Turner is in the final year of his contract.
“I think Trea Turner is one of the most underrated players in the game,’’ Harper said. “He’s one of those guys that just goes under the radar. He’s one of the best shortstops in the game. I’m excited to see where he goes next year.’’
Turner will joins Aaron Judge of the Yankees, Xander Bogaerts of the Red Sox and Willson Contreras of the Cubs on the free agent market. They rejected contract extensions, believing they are worth much more on the open market, and now are less than five months away from free agency.
Sound familiar?
Harper did the same thing with the Nationals, rejecting a heavily deferred 10-year, $300 million extension during the 2018 season, and turned it into a 13-year, $330 million contract with the Phillies.
“Those guys all bet on themselves and they are all having great years,’’ said Harper. “When I did it, I can’t say I was nervous or scared what would happen. It’s the same game I’ve always been playing. And if you end up on a different team, that’s ok. I just played the best I could, and it worked out great for me.
“Those guys are doing their thing, and showing everyone how good they are.’’
Around the basepaths...
– The Miami Marlins’ 90-minute team meeting this week was focused on talented young infielder Jazz Chisholm, who has angered several veteran teammates, among others, Marlins officials told USA TODAY Sports.
Chisholm has responded quite loudly after the meeting by going 6-for-18 (.333) with four homers and nine RBI in four games.
– Willie Horton, 79, the beloved All-Star who helped lead the Detroit Tigers to the 1968 World Series title, will be a coach on Dusty Baker’s American League All-Star team.
Manager Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers will be on Brian Snitker’s National League All-Star team, along with one other person outside Atlanta’s coaching staff.
– Scouting evaluators love the talent of the first 20 picks in the draft, but say after that, it’s a total crapshoot. The draft talent took a hit with eight of the top 50 collegiate pitchers getting injured.
While Druw Jones, son of All-Star and Gold Glove outfielder Andrew Jones, is widely considered the most talented player in the draft, several scouts predict that shortstop Jackson Holliday, son of All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday, should go No. 1.
– Cubs All-Star catcher Willson Contreras, who settled on a one-year, $9.625 million deal before arbitration, says he’s prepared to be traded with the two sides far apart in their earlier contract extension talks. Contreras is seeking a deal comparable to J.T. Realmuto’s five-year, $115.5 million free-agent contract signed last January with the Phillies.
Once Contreras is traded, starter Kyle Hendricks and outfielder Jason Heyward will be the only players remaining from the 2016 World Series championship team.
– Ugly situation in Baltimore where the sons of Orioles owner Peter Angelos are fighting over his fortune, with Lou Angelos suing his brother, John. The lawsuit says they intend to sell the team.
– Sure, the Dodgers may still be the heavy favorites to win the NL West, but considering the Padres’ deep and talented rotation, and that they have the second-best record in the NL without Fernando Tatis Jr., would it surprise anyone to see the Padres win the division?
And maybe much, much more for a team that has never won the World Series.
Their starting rotation is the best in baseball with a major league-leading 33 quality starts and eight shutouts, while ace Joe Musgrove is the leading contender for the NL Cy Young award, going 7-0 with a 1.50 ERA.
See you in October.
– Dallas Keuchel’s minor-league contract with the Diamondbacks includes three opt-out dates: June 25, July 3 and July 11.
– You know business is booming in Atlanta when they drew 42,075 on Wednesday night at Truist Field for the Oakland A’s. They have had 14 sellouts this year, and only one game in which they drew less than 30,000.
– Awful news for Twins shortstop Royce Lewis, who suffered a torn ACL when he crashed into the center-field wall, and will be out until next summer. He was supposed to replace Carlos Correa at shortstop once Correa opts out of his contract and hit the free agent market this winter.
“It's just a pause, just another setback, that honestly will push me forward and propel me to greater heights,’’ Lewis told reporters, “and maybe reach out to other people and other hearts that are struggling with some things.
"It's just life. People get knocked down all the time. People come back. Just makes the resurrection that much cooler."
– There have been only three instances in which a team fired their manager with at least 76 games remaining and still reached the playoffs in the Divisional playoff era.
The 1996 Dodgers, who were 41-35 when Bill Russell replaced Tommy Lasorda after he suffered a heart attack.
The 2004 Houston Astros, who were 44-44 when they fired Jimy Williams, and then went 48-26 and reached the NLCS under Phil Garner.
The 2009 Colorado Rockies, who were 18-28 when they fired Clint Hurdle and went 74-42 under Jim Tracy.
– There’s no more lopsided matchup in baseball than the New York Yankees and Twins.
The Yankees, if you can believe it, are 111-39 against the Twins, including the playoffs, since 2002.
You know it’s embarrassing when the Yankees’ three starters yield a 13.11 ERA in the three-game series in Minnesota, giving up eight home runs, with no starter lasting more than 4 ⅓ innings, and they still win two of three games.
No Twins manager has figured out how to be the Yankees in the last 20 years.
The winning percentages of the three Twins managers vs. the Yankees since 2002:
Ron Gardenhire: .269.
Paul Molitor. 259.
Rocco Baldelli: .210.
Ugh.
– The A’s are starting to attract a lot of interest from scouts knowing that they have three desirable pieces to move by the Aug. 2 trade deadline:
Ace Frankie Montas, center fielder Ramon Laureano and reliever Lou Trivino.
– The Tigers can’t believe how bad Javy Baez has been since signing him to a six-year, $140 million contract. He was hitting just .196 with a .230 on-base percentage and .302 slugging percentage with 50 strikeouts through 46 games. Baez had just three homers and 15 RBI, with one homer since April 26.
Baez, who was hitting .153 with 17 strikeouts in his last 14 games entering Saturday, is being heavily booed by Tigers’ fans.
“We've got to focus on solutions," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch says. "We've got to put our arms around him and get him in a better place. We are not going anywhere without the production of Javier Baez, whether it's this series or the season or in the coming years."
– The Pirates are expected to hang onto sensational closer David Bednar instead of trading him, but still will listen at the deadline.
Bednar, the NL Reliever of the Month in May with seven saves, and a 1.65 ERA, isn’t eligible for arbitration until 2024 and free agency until 2027.
– Kudos to Padres third baseman Manny Machado for lashing out at teams not honoring Albert Pujols in his final stop at cities.
“It’s kind of (expletive) that teams are not giving him a farewell tour,’’ Pujols told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I’ll tell you that right now. Why? Albert has been the best player in our generation to ever play this game, and to see him doing the things he’s doing. I mean, it’s just unbelievable. It’s freaking special that St. Louis gave him the opportunity to come back and finish off his career as a Cardinal.”
– The last time Mike Trout played at least 150 games in a season he was 24 years old, back in 2016.
– The Red Sox have seen enough of Shohei Ohtani to last a lifetime. Ohtani is 2-0 with an 0.64 ERA, yielding just 10 hits while striking out 17 in 14 innings.
He has generated 47 swings and misses in those two starts, and yes, hit a homer.
“That’s why I keep saying he’s the best athlete in the world,’’ Red Sox manager Alex Cora says. “Because to compete at this level, on the mound and at the plate the way he does, it’s eye-opening. It’s unreal.”
– Former Houston Astros GM Jeff Luhnow is back in the sports world as part owner and president of the Cancun Football Club, a Mexican professional soccer team based in Cancun, Mexico.
– Clint Frazer threw plenty of shade on the Yankees, his former team this week, in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.
‘‘You had to be a cookie-cutter version to be on that team,’’ he said. ‘‘If not, then you were, like, a really bad distraction, it seemed like. So I don’t miss being told how I had to look for the last five years.’’
Frazier, who has grown a beard and wears a nose ring, was designated for assignment Friday in the Cubs’ first day in New York.
We’ll see what he has to say about the Cubs when he joins his next team.
– How miserable was the Angels’ 14-game losing streak that cost manager Joe Maddon his job?
They had seven one-run losses, scored one run or less in six games, and had six blown leads.
They went from being one game out of first place to 9 ½ games behind the Astros.
They became the third team in baseball history to be 10 or more games over .500 and have a losing streak of 10 or more games to fall below .500, joining the 1978 Athletics and 1970 Chicago Cubs.
Maddon, who has bashed the analytics and sabermetrics crowd, has written a book with MLB Network analyst Tom Verducci coming out in October expressing his views.
– It’s hard to believe that Guardians reliever Eli Morgan’s pickoff of Rangers outfielder Adolis Garcia at second base was Cleveland’s first successful pickoff in 37 years.
The last time?
Bert Blyleven picked off the Rangers’ Toby Harrah on July 9, 1985 at old Municipal Stadium.
– The Royals’ pitching staff is a complete mess with a league-worst 5.17 ERA, and last in walks and pitches per innings.
In a recent 18-game stretch, they allowed at least six runs in 14 games.
– There are fewer surprises bigger than Miguel Cabrera’s production at the age of 39 with the Tigers, and perhaps on his way to his first All-Star Game since 2016.
"Of course he's going to make the All-Star team," Tigers second baseman Jonathan Schoop told the Detroit News. “He has to. He's hitting .300 at age 39 and he's got 3,000 hits. It's a no-brainer."
Cabrera leads the Tigers in batting average (.291), on-base percentage (.332), slugging (.374), and RBI (20).
– Pardon Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright for getting giddy every time he’s facing the Pirates. He has won his last nine starts against the Pirates with a 0.73 ERA.
– Twins starter Devin Smeltzer, 26, is still using stirrup socks, and even had to order his own while in the minor leagues.
“I’m just old school, I like the look,” Smeltzer told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “I wore them all through high school, I wore them a little bit in travel (ball), but I’ve always been pants-up, my whole baseball career.”
– Aaron Judge is in sweet company, becoming just the third Yankee player in franchise history to hit at least 22 homers in the first 55 games, joining Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle.
Judge’s arbitration case is scheduled June 22, with him asking for $21 million while the Yankees for $17 million. Fortunately for the Yankees, the arbitrators can’t consider Judge’s performance this year in determining his 2022 salary.
– Former Congressman Peter King joined the “Save The Game” advisory board to help the grass roots effort designed to encourage youth participation in baseball. Former Angels and Red Sox GM Mike Port also is on the board.
– This is the first time since 1978 that the A's have had two losing streaks of at least nine games in the same season. They snapped a 10-game losing streak with a win Saturday against Cleveland.
– The greater the competition, the better White Sox starter Michael Kopech becomes, yielding a 1.13 ERA with just six hits in 24 innings and an opponent’s batting average of .079 in his four starts against teams in first place.
– Paul Goldschmidt reached base in 46 consecutive games, the longest since Albert Pujols in 2011. The franchise record is 50 by Vince Coleman in 1987.
“What Goldy is doing is pretty unique,” teammate Nolan Arenado told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “For me, Goldy is the most prepared player I’ve probably ever seen.’’
– D-backs ace Zac Gallen on the red-hot Phillies: “It’s a very good team, and you can’t give them extra outs. It’s a death sentence.”
Follow USA TODAY Sports MLB insider Bob Nightengale on Twitter: @Bnightengale
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mariners' Logan Gilbert becoming one of MLB's top young starters
