By Paul Taylor Posted on

Mariners hoping Logan Gilbert award signals better times ahead

Logan Gilbert becomes the first Mariners player to be named American League Player of the Week this season, to punctuate his recent revival.

Logan Gilbert’s first Father’s Day as a dad couldn’t have gone much better, as he allowed just one run over 6.1 innings to help the Mariners salvage a win from their disappointing home weekend series versus the Red Sox. He then received an additional gift on Monday, as he was named American League Player of the Week for the week of June 15-21.

Gilbert is the first Mariners player to win the weekly AL award since his close friend Cal Raleigh last season, for the week of June 16-22. The righty is also the first M’s pitcher to win the award since he himself last received it, for the week of July 3-9 in 2023.

The 29-year-old made two appearances during the week, with the Mariners winning both games 3-1 and with him allowing one run each time. The first start came last Tuesday at home to the Orioles, with him going 7.0 innings of two-hit, one-walk ball and recording a season-high 10 strikeouts.

Logan Gilbert uses adversity and dad strength to turn his fortunes around

Gilbert will be the first to admit he’s not been consistent enough in 2026 and yet a disastrous outing versus the Padres, when he gave up a season-high seven earned runs in a 7-4 loss, actually served as a turning point. Since then he’s gone 4-0 in six starts, in the process producing a 1.49 ERA, 2.80 FIP, 0.80 WHIP and 43 strikeouts over a combined 36.1 innings.

As a result, the 2018 14th overall draft pick is now looking more like the staff ace who led the majors with 208.2 innings and a 0.887 WHIP in 2024. He also now leads all Mariners pitchers this season, with a 2.1 bWAR, and with only Bryce Miller proving to be more productive overall among the starters. (And with the caveat Miller has so far only pitched in seven games.)

A key part of Gilbert’s improved pitching of late, has been an uptick in his velocity. When speaking to the media postgame on Sunday following the 3-1 win against the Red Sox, he jokingly put it down to dad strength, as he said:

“I think the usage has gone up a little bit the last couple games. And when we see if it’s working, just trying to get good counts right away. You see guys like (Bryan) Woo do it all the time, Bryce. Guys with really good heaters trying to just use it, make them swing. And then kind of opens up the secondary stuff later too. So I think Cal is doing a good job of reading where we’re at. And if it’s working, just keep going with it.”

Mariners still have the pieces in place to strive for that first ever AL pennant

It’s been a rough first half of the season for the Mariners, with a horrendous amount of injuries to key personnel compromising their efforts to live up to preseason expectations as favorites to win the AL pennant. Combined with an overall team inconsistency, they find themselves at just 40-39 as we approach the midway point of their regular season schedule.

At the same time, as challenging as it has been, the Mariners do actually lead their division and are only one game back of the second seed in the AL. The path to that first ever World Series berth is still very much there, and with Brendan Donovan, Matt Brash, Randy Arozarena and Carlos Vargas all still to return from the Injured List.

It will also require the likes of Raleigh, Josh Naylor and George Kirby to play up their talent level on a more consistent basis, for the Mariners to truly fulfil their potential. M’s fans will be hoping Gilbert’s own recent improved consistency signals that better times are ahead, as they look for the ultimate reason to celebrate 50 seasons of M’s baseball in the Pacific Northwest.

Photos court​‌esy of Tim Rogers Photography

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