Mariners reinstate Logan Gilbert from elbow injury, option Jackson Kowar to Triple-A

Mariners reload rotation with their ace, make surprising option to Triple-A

The Mariners announced today that they have reinstated Logan Gilbert, as expected, to make tonight’s start. Less-expected is the reliever they optioned to Tacoma in his place: Jackson Kowar, who’s been used in a setup man role while Trent Thornton has been on the IL recovering from appendicitis.

Kowar has been solid in his seven outings with the big-league club since returning from TJ surgery after building up some bulk in Tacoma, but the underlying numbers suggest he’s gotten a little lucky; his FIP and xERA are both double his actual ERA. There have been very crisp outings, and some where he’s had to battle around self-inflicted damage like walks or falling behind in counts, something Dan Wilson seemed to hint at while talking about the decision to option Kowar.

“He will continue to find consistency when he goes down there [Tacoma], and he will make the most of his opportunity there, and he will be ready to go when and if that time comes again.”

The other important thing to note is that Kowar actually has options, which isn’t true of anyone else in the bullpen, including Zach Pop, who the Mariners signed to a minor-league deal and called up after returning Logan Evans to Tacoma. That gives the team a certain amount of flexibility in how they want to use Kowar going forward. But Wilson’s use of the word “consistency” is telling, indicating that the team would like to see more outings like his sharp, two-inning performance against Baltimore, and fewer like his shaky three-walk performance against the Angels.

Meanwhile, Logan Gilbert returns to the Mariners lineup for the first time since elbow soreness forced him out of his start against the Marlins on April 25, which is also right about when things started to go sideways for the team in general. Gilbert made three rehab starts for Tacoma, building from 1.2 innings to three to five, finishing with a one-hit, six-strikeout performance against the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate. Team officials were pleased with both his velocity and his pitch shapes, leading to him being activated today. Dan Wilson said pregame the expectation is for about 80 pitches for Gilbert tonight; as long as those pitches are pain-free for Gilbert, I’ll consider his outing a success regardless of the score.