Seattle Mariners' Ace Listed as One of Game's Best Pitchers This Season

After leading baseball in innings pitched (208 2/3) and WHIP (0.887) in 2024, the 28-year-old has gotten out of the gates strong this year. Through his first five starts, he has pitched to a 2.63 ERA across 27 1/3 innings with a 0.878 WHIP, 41 strikeouts, and a 136 ERA+.

His performance to this point has seen his stock rise across the MLB landscape. In a recent article for Bleacher Report, Zachary D. Rymer ranked the top-10 batters and pitchers to this point in the season, with Gilbert ranking sixth.

It is a testament to just how good Gilbert is on the mound, and he is just now in the midst of his peak years.

The groundball pitcher has induced such balls in play at a higher clip this year, which falls in line with his year-over-year trend of doing such in every campaign since his debut. At a 50 percent clip, it is easy to see why he is so successful.

His success is not the product of good batted-ball luck, either. He has allowed a career BABIP of .273, while this year it sits at .263. With his lethal arsenal, Gilbert can limit hard contact while keeping (to this point) half of the balls put in play against him on the ground, where the defense behind him is more than capable of backing him up.

If there is one thing holding Gilbert back from reaching that upper echelon of top-tier aces this season, it is his inability to get through at least six innings. For those keeping track at home, his 27 1/3 innings this year come across five starts. This year, an average outing for Gilbert lasts roughly 5 1/3 innings.

This is a far cry from the workload he put in on Opening Day, the only start this year in which he has pitched six innings or more, going seven strong innings against the Athletics. Since then, he has posted 5 2/3 in one start, five in two, and 4 2/3 in his most recent start. Seattle has won four of Gilbert's five outings this year, though he only has two decisions to show for it. Keeping the pitch count low and working through six or more innings would go a long way to helping not only his win total, but that of the team's as well. 

Gilbert is a burgeoning ace who has performed well to this point in his career. 2025 could be his best season yet, even potentially seeing him contend for the American League Cy Young Award. He just has to get through many more innings along the way.