The Florida college, Stetson, that produced MLB pitchers Corey Kluber of the Indians and Jacob deGrom of the Mets provided the Mariners Monday with their first-round draft choice, 14th overall: Junior Logan Gilbert, a 6-6, 225-pound righthander who had 157 strikeouts and 23 walks in 15 starts for the Hatters of the Atlantic Sun Conference.
“Logan is a polished, accomplished college pitcher,” said Scott Hunter, Mariners director of amateur scouting. “He is a strikeout pitcher who controls the zone and wins, as evidenced by his 21-1 mark over the past two years. This is a player we felt we had no chance at, coming out of the summer. We are truly excited to add this type of talent to our organization.”
In his junior season, Gilbert, the conference pitcher of the year, had a 2.52 ERA with 157 strikeouts (tops in NCAA Division I), 23 walks and an 0.82 WHIP in 15 starts. In three seasons, he had a 23-2 record with a 2.38 ERA with 307 strikeouts and 75 walks in 51 games (32 starts) while allowing 11 home runs.
In 2017, he played as a member of the Orleans Firebirds in the summer Cape Cod Collegiate League and was was named all-league.
The Mariners have only one player on the current 25-man roster they chose as a first-round pick: C Mike Zunino in 2012. Their consistently poor draft results have the farm system ranked last in MLB and a primary reason the club has missed the playoffs for 16 years in a row.
Gilbert, 21, is the first pitcher taken with the Mariners’ top pick since the 2011 selection of Danny Hultzen of the University of Virginia. The year before, the Mariners took Taijuan Walker out of California’s Yucaipa High School. Both have been injured and are not playing this season.
Louisville outfielder taken with 54th choice
A junior outfielder from University of Louisville, Josh Stowers (6-0, 205) ,was taken by the Mariners with the 54th pick.
This season, he hit .336 with 72 runs, 14 doubles, four triples, nine home runs, 60 RBI, 52 walks, 36 stolen bases, a .477 on-base percentage and a .559 slugging percentage over 62 games. He was named first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference.
He played high school ball at Chicago’s Mount Carmel, which won the state title his sophomore season. He hit .387 his senior year.
The draft continues with rounds three through 10 Tuesday, then Wednesday with rounds 11-40.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2240419 https://sportspressnw.wpengine.com/?p=2240419">2 Comments
Hopefully Gilbert can be called up in 2021. Can always use a good young arm in the rotation,
I wish I had a dollar for every post draft quote of, “We had no idea we’d get a shot at him. We expected him to be gone long before our turn. We figured we’d have no chance at him. We couldn’t be happier.”