Mariners rotation suffers injury blow before season even begins

The Mariners will have to make do without Logan Evans in 2026 after he underwent surgery to reconstruct a torn UCL in his right arm.

Last season was a challenging one for the Seattle Mariners, as injuries impacted their rotation throughout the season. The only constant among the preferred starting five was Luis Castillo, resulting in an increased focus on the available depth options.

This included Logan Evans, who made his Major League debut in April and went on to start 15 games (and one relief appearance) to help keep the Mariners’ playoff challenge alive. Unfortunately for the team, they won’t be able to rely on him providing valuable depth again in 2026.

As announced by the Mariners on Friday, Evans has undergone surgery to reconstruct a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his right arm. The procedure took place on Jan. 23 and Vice President of High Performance and Medical Rob Scheidegger advised the estimated recovery time is approximately 12 months.

Logan Evans did his part last season

This is obviously a shame for Evans, who provided some key performances for the Mariners last season. This included his Major League debut on Apr. 27 against the Miami Marlins, when he allowed two hits and two earned runs in 5.0 innings, and ultimately notched the W in a 7-6 win.

The 24-year-old also had the longest outing by any Mariners pitcher in 2025, when he went 8.0 innings on May. 27 versus the Washington Nationals. He allowed four hits, a walk and one earned run, while also striking out four in a 9-1 victory.

We can appreciate that overall Evans’ stats might not have blown people away, as he produced a 4.32 ERA and 1.380 WHIP in 81.1 combined innings. However, he did his part early on in the season when the Mariners were struggling for consistency, as he produced a 3-1 record and 2.83 ERA through his first six starts.

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Mariners must consider rotation depth options

Overall, the righty has more positives than negatives to build on as he moves forward, but his injury setbacks obviously compromises this. What will be interesting though, is what the Mariners decide to do with him in the meantime.

Evans finished the 2025 season on optional assignment, so theoretically the Mariners could keep him there for the duration of this year. Another option is to call him up and place him on the Major League 60-day injured list which in turn opens up an extra 40-man roster spot. but this would then mean giving him a full year of big league pay and service time.

As a knock-on effect of all this, the Mariners will now have to consider other options to provide depth for the rotation, with recent additions Dane Dunning and Cooper Criswell both being possibilities. Emerson Hancock is another possibility, although he has never lived up to being a sixth overall draft pick and seems better suited as a reliever at this point in his career.

Photos court​‌esy of Tim Rogers Photography

Are you confident about the depth rotations available to the Mariners for 2026? Or do you think they need to go out and make another move or two ahead of spring training? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.