One Logan out. One Logan in.
Farewell to Mr. Gilbert for now. Hello to Mr. Evans.
The Mariners are shutting down Logan Gilbert, their opening-day starter, from throwing for at least two weeks after being diagnosed with a grade 1 strain of the flexor in his right elbow.
The Mariners placed Gilbert on the 15-day injured list on Saturday after he underwent an MRI earlier in the day, which they said revealed a “mild” strain. Gilbert will not throw for at least two weeks and will be re-examined at that time as how to proceed in his rehabilitation.
Gilbert said he’s optimistic about his prognosis, although a two-week shutdown at this point likely means sometime in June is the earliest before he could be back.
“I would have been really surprised if it was something really bad, but you never really know and especially when it never got quite back right,” Gilbert said. “But even I feel better today already than yesterday. We probably don’t want to rush anything. We’ll see. But optimistic.”
For now, Gilbert will transition into being a little bit of a mentor for Logan Evans, who will make his major-league debut on Sunday in the series finale against Miami.
They call each other “Big Lo,” and Gilbert greeted Evans with a hug in the M’s clubhouse on Saturday. While the move with Evans won’t be official until Sunday, his arrival in Seattle is a chance for the M’s to see if their top starter prospect yet to debut is ready for the majors.
“There’s a lot of things I wish I knew at the very beginning and I don’t want to ever pile on too much when there’s a lot on your debut and that kind of stuff,” Gilbert said. “But I want to be able to help him, help any of the younger guys. Like questions they have and especially him going through it and just not treating it too different. His slider is so good. His stuff is so good. I told him, ‘You’re plenty good, just throw strikes.’”
Of course, the M’s would prefer if Evans’ debut was under different circumstances and not with their staff ace dealing with arm troubles.
Gilbert was lifted after three innings in Friday night’s start against Miami. He was perfect through those three innings needing just 29 pitches the first time through the Marlins batting order.
But he didn’t take the mound for the fourth and was replaced by Casey Lawrence due to forearm tightness. Gilbert said after the game that the arm felt a little tight during pregame warmups and never got fully loose.
Gilbert has been one of the most durable pitchers around since becoming a mainstay in the Mariners rotation. Gilbert has not missed a start since making his Mariners debut in May 2021. He led the majors in innings pitched last season and made his first All-Star appearance.
“The team’s rolling and we got a lot of momentum. I’ll be back soon. Everybody goes through stuff like this and I can still play a role and help the team however I can,” Gilbert said. “But mentally you always want to, like, contribute so that’s probably the hardest part.”
Evans never stepped foot inside T-Mobile Park until Saturday afternoon. He got the call late Friday night to report to Seattle rather than head to Cheney Stadium and immediately video called with his family, waking them up in Michigan around 1 a.m. Eastern Time.
A regular player of “MLB: The Show,” — he’s always the M’s, by the way — Evans said the ballpark looked a little better in person than the graphics on the game.
“Getting out here to see the field for the first time was just like breathtaking,” Evans said. “I’ve played it in ‘The Show.’ I’ve watched all the games for sure, but it’s a lot bigger and much nicer than I had anticipated.”
Getting the chance to start in the majors will cap a rapid rise through the M’s farm system for the 6-foot-4 righty. Evans appeared in 32 games last year at Double-A Arkansas and at one point briefly transitioned into being a reliever with the thought he could have helped the big-league club last season. Those plans were eventually scuttled and Evans returned to being a starter.
Good choice. This year with Tacoma, Evans was 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA, 23 strikeouts and four walks in 25 2/3 innings, and a 1.247 WHIP. Evans said that was the message when he left spring training — throw strikes.
“Just keep being me. Just be a strike thrower, use all my pitches, strike out guys when I get them into those two-strike counts is kind of what I was working on, and really just making quality pitches when I need to,” Evans said. “It wasn’t really anything like reinventing the wheel. Just kind of buying into me.”
The decision to start Evans on Sunday will also buy a couple more days of rest for Bryce Miller as he’s dealt with some arm soreness and seen a drop in his fastball velocity at times. M’s manager Dan Wilson said the extra rest played into the decision to throw out Evans on Sunday where he’ll have a healthy crew of family and friends making the trip into town for his debut.
“It’s a good amount of people. I gave them all the call last night, right when I got it, it’s 1 a.m. everybody’s waking up, like, ‘what’s going on?’ Two of my buddies were definitely out, like, hanging out partying, so it was easier for them to pick up,” Evans said.
The Mariners recalled right-hander Troy Taylor and lefty Tayler Saucedo from Triple-A Tacoma to bolster the bullpen for now. Lawrence, who threw five innings of relief in place of Gilbert, continued his yo-yo on and off the major-league roster and was designated for assignment.
