Mariners must wait a little longer for Logan Gilbert’s return

The Seattle Mariners are being better safe than sorry, when it comes to Logan Gilbert’s rehab for his right elbow flexor strain.

The Seattle Mariners are in a funk right now, with Friday night’s 5-4 defeat in Anaheim to the Angels seeing them equal their season-high of four consecutive losses. They are 5-11 in their past 16 contests, 2.5 games back of the Houston Astros at the AL West summit and sitting outside a wild card spot with an overall record of 32-30.

There are plenty of reasons for this fall down the standings, not least a rotation which was the best in all of baseball last year but has been nowhere close to this level so far in 2025. As of Saturday morning the Mariners rotation is ranked 19th in ERA, 18th in WHIP, 20th in strikeouts and 23rd in opposing team batting average.

This quite simply isn’t going to get it down, although it admittedly doesn’t help when you have Logan Gilbert, George Kirby and Bryce Miller all missing time through injuries. Kirby and Miller are now back, albeit neither has looked like their usual selves thus far.

Not so fast with Logan Gilbert

As for Gilbert, there was some hope that he would return to the rotation next Tuesday in Arizona against the Diamondbacks, following two rehab starts in Triple-A Tacoma. However, as per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com, the Mariners have determined the righty needs at least one more rehab start, which will come on Tuesday at Cheney Stadium.

While there’s little doubt the Mariners rotation could use Gilbert asap, it is refreshing that they are being cautious regarding his health and thinking of the long-term. As manager Dan Wilson said to Kramer and the rest of the media on Friday:

“The main goal here is Logan’s health and making sure he’s ready to go and in a good position. So that’s really what’s on our mind.”

Gilbert is currently working on a six-day routine, which means the next opportunity for him to return to the majors would be on June 16, at T-Mobile Park versus the Boston Red Sox. Wilson said:

“[We’re] just making sure he’s at a good spot and with a good pitch count and ready to roll. I think wanting to again, to be in a position where we’re comfortable with where he’s going.

Gilbert was sent to the Injured List on April 26 — the first time in his Major League career — after suffering a right elbow flexor strain in his sixth outing of the season, against the Miami Marlins. It’s never a good time to have your staff ace suffer an injury, but making it even more frustrating is that he was off to a tremendous start to 2025.

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Mariners should receive a boost with Gilbert’s return

The 2018 first round draft pick had produced a 2.37 ERA, 2.15 FIP, 37.6 percent strikeout rate and 0.791 WHIP which were all projected to be career-bests. As per Baseball Savant, he was in the 99th percentile for extension, 98th percentile for Whiff% and K%, as well as the 96th percentile for xERA.

Last season proved to be a coming out party for Gilbert, as he showed how productive and durable he can be. He led the majors with a 0.887 WHIP and 208.2 innings pitched, and earned the first All-Star selection of his career.

The 28-year-old threw 60 pitches in his second rehab start and is expected to increase this to around 75 in his next outing on Tuesday. Although there are no guarantees, we anticipate that he will indeed be back in the Mariners rotation for the Red Sox series.

Photos court​‌esy of Tim Rodgers Photography

With the Mariners saying they will stick with a five-man rotation when Gilbert returns, who would you take out? In theory it should be Emerson Hancock, but he’s been pitching well of late. Would you still remove him, or be tempted to pick Bryce Miller, who has continued to struggle since his own return from injury? Let us know in the comments below.