SEATTLE -- Cubs lefty Jordan Wicks is only 10 starts into his big league career, but the early feedback -- via Chicago catchers, coaches and manager Craig Counsell -- has been that the rookie pitcher is a good self-evaluator.

“Those are easier guys to talk to, for sure,” said Cubs veteran catcher Yan Gomes. “Those aren't guys that you usually try to give a day or two to go and talk to him. Those are guys that you can go right away and have a conversation with.”

After Friday night’s 4-2 loss to the Mariners, Gomes said that Wicks had the kind of start that can be broken down and used as a learning experience. The left-hander only lasted four innings, but there was a mix of positives and negatives for Wicks to sift through as he continues to develop as a Major League starter.

What went right
Out of the gates this season, Wicks has been one of the Cubs’ top bat missers. In fact, the rookie lefty entered his Friday start with a team-leading 31 swinging strikes, per Statcast. He added another 16 against the Mariners, showing off his elite changeup throughout the evening.

“I thought the changeup was outstanding tonight,” Wicks said. “I think it's what honestly got us through a lot of it. So that pitch was really good. It's definitely a positive I'll take, but there's a lot of things still to work on.”

Six of the dozen outs that Wicks recorded in his effort against Seattle came via strikeout, and all six were of the swinging variety. For his final act of the night, Wicks sent an elevated fastball beyond the bat of Mitch Haniger, stranding two baserunners in the process.

This was all more or less in line with Wicks’ performance throughout his first three starts of this campaign. Per Statcast, the left-hander was in the 84th percentile in whiff rate (33.3%) going into Friday, and that included a 41.2% rate with his changeup, specifically. Against the Mariners, Wicks had 12 swinging strikes out of 18 swings on the changeup (67%).

“He does have strikeout stuff,” Gomes said. “He showed that today.”

Gomes also called Wicks’ damage control in the second inning a positive for the pitcher to focus on. After Seattle loaded the bases behind two singles and a walk, Wicks escaped with only one run relinquished in the frame.

“We got ourselves into a lot of trouble early on. He kind of got away with it,” Gomes said. “He was able to eliminate a big inning.”

What went wrong
While Wicks generated a lot of swing-and-misses throughout the night, the left-hander still struggled to finish batters off in key moments. That drove his pitch count up (94 by the end of his start) and helped the Mariners create some runs after he worked himself into jams.

“Essentially,” Counsell said, “the game boiled down to a couple of chances where he was ahead in the count and ended up with two walks and a hit-by-pitch.”

With two outs and the bases loaded in the second, Wicks had Luis Urías in a 1-2 count but later misfired with a slider. The pitch hit Urías on the left knee to force home the game’s first run. In the fourth, both Dylan Moore and J.P. Crawford drew walks after being behind 0-2. That helped set up consecutive run-scoring hits from Julio Rodríguez and Ty France.

Overall, Wicks issued four free passes, upping his walk rate to 12.3% on the young season. He had a 7.5% walk rate in his seven-game stint with the Cubs last year.

“It's just the walks, man,” Wicks said. “The walks are the ones that really drive me nuts. I feel like we've got way too good of a defense for me to just let people on via walk. I feel like I've got to allow our team to work behind me as well.”

Therein lies one of the learning experiences Gomes was referencing.

Wicks knows he has the stuff -- especially with that changeup in his arsenal -- to get whiffs and pile up strikeouts. The key is to avoid hunting for a strikeout to the point that it piles up pitches and allows hitters to work the count back into their favor. Gomes said they were “nipping” at the strike zone in Seattle, as opposed to being more on the attack.

“He's got a lot of talent,” Gomes said. “He's definitely got a pretty good arsenal and he can just attack the zone even more. Sometimes, when the strikeouts aren't coming as easy, you can just go get an early out.”