Gilbert 'in a great spot' after superb spring start

PEORIA, Ariz. -- Logan Gilbert tried to approach Sunday’s spring start like a regular season game. If his regular season looks anything like this outing, the right-hander could be in for a special season.

Gilbert allowed three hits and struck out seven over five scoreless innings in the Mariners’ 5-4 loss to the D-backs at Peoria Stadium -- showing off his big fastball while working in his cutter and sinker, two relatively new pitches for the 26-year-old.

“It's not as much experimenting anymore,” Gilbert said. “There's a little bit of a place for that in Spring Training, but it's mostly about working ahead in counts, simulating how you're going to sequence guys in the game, getting good looks at whatever I do in the season that I try to do really well, and making sure I can do that right now.”

Gilbert recorded three of his strikeouts with his cutter, a pitch he began throwing this offseason. Three more came on his slider, while the other was on a splitter, with all seven K’s coming on swings.

“With less than two weeks [until Opening Day], it's about that time to try to get into that mentality of treating this like a real game in most situations,” catcher Cal Raleigh said. “Obviously [in the] spring, he’s still working on stuff and it's not the real thing, but you try to get as close to it as you can.”

Through three spring starts, Gilbert boasted a bloated 14.21 ERA, though manager Scott Servais liked the way his starter threw in two of those outings.

Gilbert was “scattered” in his second start, struggling to find his fastball command, but Servais saw a different pitcher five days ago despite a line score that saw him charged with four earned runs over three innings against the Padres.

“I'm not worried about Logan's numbers in Spring Training,” Servais said before Sunday’s game. “I literally don't know his ERA or whatever he's done this spring; I'm just looking at the stuff and how he feels coming out of those outings.”

It was easy to calculate his ERA vs. the D-backs. Gilbert attacked hitters, had complete command of the zone and seemed to be putting nearly every pitch wherever he wanted to in putting up five zeros on the scoreboard.

While his fastball appeared to be in midseason form, Gilbert’s use of the cutter and sinker stood out to Servais.

Prior to the game, Servais talked about the importance of Gilbert “not to get caught up in those new things,” but after watching his pitcher dominate on Sunday, Servais was excited by the possibilities of what the new pitches could do for the righty.

“He puts a lot of work and time in; he knows who he is, but it was nice to see him get some results,” Servais said. “To get him through five innings like that, very efficient with all of his pitches, I thought Cal did a really good job behind the plate mixing them in at the right times.

“He's a guy that's focused on just getting better. He's already good, and if he adds one percent here or one percent there, it’s going to be an even better year for him.”

Gilbert used his fastball and slider 70 percent of the time last season, so while his arsenal now includes some new weapons, it’s unlikely that he’ll make drastic changes to his approach.

Still, knowing that these pitches can be effective -- which they clearly were against Arizona -- will give Gilbert options every time out, especially when he begins seeing teams for a second, third or fourth time.

“Cal likes it and kept calling it; it was originally for lefties, but we threw some to righties, too, and got a couple of strikeouts on it,” Gilbert said. “I threw a couple of sinkers, too, and broke a couple bats on those. I think it helps the four-seam play up a little bit.

“Right now, it looks pretty good, so we have it if we want it.”

“There will be lineups this year -- and we saw it last year -- where he'll use his fastball 30 percent of the time even though that's his overriding pitch because this lineup, they hammer it, so let's get him off of that,” Servais said. “He's got the ability to adjust going team-to-team, which usually takes a couple of years to be able to have that at the big-league level.

“I like where he’s at; he's in a great spot.”