Mariners starter Logan Gilbert seems poised to continue his rise in 2025, with the help of a pitch built to drop.
No pitcher who faced at least 400 batters last season was tougher to reach base against than Gilbert (.235 OBP), a fact made even more impressive when you consider that he also led the Majors in innings pitched. The 27-year-old finished the season with a 3.32 ERA, 220 strikeouts and 37 walks over 208 2/3 frames, managing to stand out on a Seattle club loaded with impressive starters. He not only earned his first All-Star selection but also placed sixth in the American League Cy Young Award voting.
It was easily the best season of his career, a year in which he looked more like a legitimate frontline presence than ever before. Gilbert, though, could be ready to level up again.
One of the keys to the rightyĄ¯s strong showing last year? His splitter, which ranked among baseballĄ¯s elite offerings in a number of areas.
GilbertĄ¯s splitter ranks among individual pitch types, 2024
Early in 2025, it looks as though Gilbert has decided to make the pitch an even bigger part of his arsenal, an interesting development to monitor as he prepares to make his third start of the season. (He's lined up to go Monday against the Astros.)
Through two starts, Gilbert has used his splitter twice as much as he did last year, bumping his usage rate to 26.3%.
Meanwhile, he has seemingly ditched the cutter he introduced in 2024. It could be addition by subtraction -- he yielded a .483 slugging percentage on cutters in 2024, the highest mark against any pitch in his arsenal.
The results speak for themselves -- Gilbert has notched a 40% whiff rate and 18 strikeouts over 12 innings in 2025. Ten of those KĄ¯s have come on splitters, with batters going 0-for-14 against the pitch while whiffing on 56.7% of their swings.
There are a few factors that explain why GilbertĄ¯s splitter is such a formidable weapon.
For starters, the pitch has an extremely low spin rate, which allows gravity to take over and create significant downward action, leading to plenty of whiffs and grounders as batters swing over the top of it. The pitch pairs well with his mid-90s Ą°risingĄą fastball, which stays on plane longer and carries through the strike zone.
Adding another layer of difficulty for hitters is Gilbert's extreme extension (7.4 feet) -- with his 6-foot-6 frame and long stride, only a few pitchers across MLB get further down the mound before releasing the ball. That means batters have even less time to try to identify which pitch is coming.
GilbertĄ¯s ability to pound the zone also enhances his splitterĄ¯s effectiveness. Because heĄ¯s so consistently around the plate, hitters canĄ¯t afford to sit back -- they have to be ready to swing, which makes them especially vulnerable against a pitch designed to disappear late.
There are also reasons to believe that the pitch could be even nastier in 2025.
1. ItĄ¯s getting even more drop
As we mentioned above, the low spin rate on GilbertĄ¯s splitter causes the pitch to drop off the table. This year, itĄ¯s getting even more vertical movement than it did in 2024, both in total drop (including gravity) and induced vertical break, which removes gravity from the equation and measures how much rise or drop the pitcher generates himself from how he throws the pitch.
- Tayler Scott: 44.0 inches (5.9 inches IVB)
- Roki Sasaki: 42.9 inches (4.8 inches IVB)
- Gilbert: 42.0 inches (1.9 inches IVB)
- Nick Sandlin: 42.1 inches (2.7 inches IVB)
- Héctor Neris: 40.9 inches (0.3 inches IVB)
On average, GilbertĄ¯s splitter is getting 4.1 more inches of total drop compared to 2024, with 2.1 more inches of IVB.
2. ItĄ¯s getting more unpredictable side-to-side movement
The increased drop isnĄ¯t the only notable change to his splitter in 2025 -- itĄ¯s also showing more varied horizontal movement. While the pitch is still tailing to his arm side more often than not, heĄ¯s been throwing splitters that cut to his glove side more frequently this year.
Through two starts, nearly 20% of GilbertĄ¯s splitters -- and four of his 10 splitter KĄ¯s -- have had cut, including a strikeout against the A's Shea Langeliers on a splitter that broke three inches and dropped 47 inches.
In 2024, only 8.4% of GilbertĄ¯s splitters had cut, and all but one of his splitter KĄ¯s moved to his arm side.
Given the properties of the pitch, throwing more splitters could help Gilbert mitigate what has been perhaps his biggest flaw over the past two years -- his penchant for allowing a lot of pull-side contact has made him susceptible to the long ball, even at Seattle's pitcher-friendly home park.
While allowing an average of 1.24 homers per nine innings over the past two seasons hasn't hindered his development, it has undermined his run prevention somewhat, as evidenced by his middling 109 ERA+ in that stretch. Curtailing that issue could be the final piece he needs to break into the top tier of big league starters.