2018 MLB Draft: The Seattle Mariners select Logan Gilbert with the 14th pick

With the 14th pick in the 2018 Draft, the Seattle Mariners selected Stetson RHP Logan Gilbert. In recent mock drafts, Gilbert had been projected to go 17th by Keith Law of ESPN and 17th by Baseball America.

In Gilbert, you have a guy that has varying accounts of what his upside is, but he has performed well in his three seasons at Stetson. In 2018, he has posted a 2.52 ERA and 0.80 WHIP in 14 starts with 143 strikeouts and 20 walks in 100 innings.

As a pitcher, Gilbert is a guy that fills up the strike zone and features a mid-90’s fastball although his velocity did dip a bit early this spring. His changeup is his second best pitch (some argue it might actually be his best offering) and he repeats his usual delivery well with it. He has a slider and a curveball although his slider is significantly better with the curve being more of a change of pace pitch.

The concerns with Gilbert are with the level of competition he has faced at Stetson along with possible concerns about his fastball velo due to him losing a tick off of his fastball early in the 2018 season. However, he was able to regain that lost velo as the spring progressed and those concerns appear to be minor quibbles at this point. As for the level of competition, that might lead to some early growing pains, but Stetson has produced Corey Kluber and Jacob de Grom so there is plenty of reason to think that Gilbert could easily turn into a fine major league pitcher.