The Road to The Show™: Logan Gilbert

Each week, MiLB.com profiles an elite prospect by chronicling the steps he's taken to reach the brink of realizing his Major League dream. Here's a look at Seattle Mariners right-hander Logan Gilbert. For more player journeys on The Road to The Show, click here.

Had the 2020 baseball season gone according to plan, Logan Gilbert would likely no longer be on The Road to The Show -- he'd be in it.

Seattle's No. 4 prospect stormed through the Minor Leagues in 2019, his first season as a pro. The 6-foot-6 right-hander started with Class A West Virginia, where he fanned 43.4 percent of the South Atlantic League batters he faced while holding them to a .118 average over five starts. After a stop at Class A Advanced Modesto in the California League, Gilbert finished the season with nine strong outings for Double-A Arkansas in the Texas League. He earned Pitcher of the Week honors at both of the latter stops and was set to lead the Travelers into the Texas League playoffs before being shut down by the Mariners.

"He's not going to be happy about this," Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto told the Seattle Times at the time. "And that's a good thing.

"His season could have not gone any better and that's why we don't want to push the envelope here. With 135 innings pitched, and that was our goal, we don't see the need to push him out there. Unless something goes wildly wrong, we see Logan pitching in the big leagues next year, and to take a chance here and pushing him when he's tired, that's not what we are here for."

In total, Gilbert went 10-5 with a 2.13 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP in 26 starts covering 135 innings to earn the Mariners' Minor League Pitcher of the Year award. His 165 strikeouts were 12th-most in the Minors and his 31.7 percent strikeout rate ranked 10th among Minor League qualifiers.

Seattle selected Gilbert out of Stetson with the 14th overall pick in the 2018 Draft, but he did not pitch that summer while battling mononucleosis. Now fully recovered, the Florida native can consistently throw four pitches for strikes, three of which are considered above average: a mid-90s fastball with excellent life, a hard slider and a changeup. His curveball is average, according to MLB.com. That kind of arsenal, and Gilbert's command of it, has the Mariners excited. Seattle manager Scott Servais is even more impressed with Gilbert's delivery.

“Logan’s obviously got a good arm and good stuff,” Servais told MLB.com. “How his body works, he’s got big-time extension down the mound. That’s what sticks out immediately. There is going to be deception.

“Some guys, the radar gun doesn’t tell the true story,” he added. “And we’ve seen it. We’ve seen guys come in here and throw 100 mph, but guys turn it around like it’s nothing. And we see other guys that throw 92-94 and [opposing batters] don’t hit the fastball. A lot of it is tied to deception and extension down the mound. And his extension is special. He gets down the mound, based on the [Statcast] numbers, as good as anybody in Major League Baseball.”

Logan Gilbert is having a nice spring. Here he is striking out Adell, Ohtani and Thaiss (🎨) pic.twitter.com/mD6iteyRA4

— Alex Fast (@AlexFast8) March 10, 2020

Shortly before the coronavirus shut down Spring Training, Gilbert got a chance to test himself against some prominent hitters as the Mariners faced the Angels in Cactus League action. He fanned star outfield prospect Jo Adell with a sweeping slider and sat down two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani with a mid-70s curve.

“He is getting comfortable, and he knows that it's not going to be long. He's going to help us in Seattle real soon,” Servais told MLB.com after Gilbert finished two perfect frames against the team's division foes.

Given the shortened Major League campaign, "real soon" wound up being pushed back a year. 2020 was hardly a washout for the 23-year-old Gilbert, however -- he spent over two months at the Mariners' alternate training site in Tacoma, Washington, battling fellow top prospects like Jarred Kelenic and Julio Rodriguez.

If all goes well, expect to see Gilbert, now baseball's No. 35 overall prospect, start 2021 back in Tacoma with the Triple-A Rainiers. But it won't be long before he finally completes his Road to The Show.